206 WHALING 



went up to all of them till he come to me, and every one of 

 them said it was good enough for them. And they'd all prom- 

 ised to stand by me ! 



"And then he come to me, and he says, 'Now, blank — blank 

 you, is this good enough for you? ' 



"And I says, 'No, sir/ 



"Then the Old Man says to the mate, 'Seize him up to the 

 rigging.' So they seized me to the rigging by the wrists, 

 with my hands over my head, so that my toes just touched the 

 deck and every time the ship rolled I swung. And once every 

 hour he come up to me and says, ' Is that good enough for you? ' 

 And I says, 'No, sir.' 



"I'd 'a' hung there till I died before I'd 'a' give in. But by 

 and by, when I'd been there half a day, the mate come and cut 

 me down. 'It's lucky for you,' he says, 'that the captain's 

 wife's on board.' 



"'Why's that?' I asked. 



" 'She's been ciying in the cabin ever since you was seized up, 

 and that's why the captain said to cut you down.' 



" 'That was off Cape Horn. By and by we come to Robinson 

 Crusoe's island, Juan Fernandez, and stopped for wood and 

 water. Another fellow and I asked to go ashore in the captain's 

 boat and get some fruit, because they said there was figs on the 

 island, and the mate let us go. But when we got on the island 

 we ran away and climbed a mountain. We saw them come out 

 and look for us. And by and by they went back to the ship 

 and the ship sailed away. But we stayed up the mountain 

 three days, for fear they might come back and catch us. Then 

 we come down and went to the Chilanos that was staying on 

 the island and they kept us till three weeks later another ship 

 come and took us off. That was the only time I ever went 

 whaling. 



"The captain died fifteen years ago, and he's in Hell now if 

 any man is, but his wife's living out in Padanaram yet. I saw 

 her three or four years ago, and I says to her, ' Do you remember 

 me?' 



"And she says, 'Hey?' 



