292 WHALING 



ing language, the men at the oars grew steadier and settled into 

 the long pull. 



When they were half a mile from shore, a detachment of 

 mounted police and native trackers appeared on the beach. 

 At five o'clock in the afternoon the boat passed the outer reef. 

 A storm blew up, washed their provisions overboard, and 

 carried away the mast. They rigged an oar for a jury-mast, 

 lowered the centreboard, and held aft the sheet of their make- 

 shift sail. All that night, nearly swamped, they bailed for 

 their lives, and once more fortune saved them, for the gale 

 subsided. At sunrise they saw the Catalpa, and made for her 

 under oars and sail. 



But an hour after sunrise they saw the Georgette steaming out 

 of Fremantle. 



Down came the sail. They dared not even row, but shipped 

 their oars and lay flat on the bottom of the boat, which, being 

 so heavily laden, was low in the water and rolled like a log. 

 Thus it came about that the Georgette, though she twice passed 

 the whaleboat on her way to and from the Catalpa, did not 

 sight her either time. 



When the Georgette was a safe distance away, bound for Fre- 

 mantle again, the crew of the whaleboat once more pulled 

 toward the Catalpa, which had not yet sighted them. Alongside 

 her was a craft which they thought was a fishing vessel, until 

 Desmond cried out: 



''My God! There's the guardboat, filled with police. Pass 

 out those rifles." 



They loaded rifles and revolvers with fresh cartridges, and 

 fighting off their exhaustion, rowed as if the Devil were behind 

 them. Then the lookout at the masthead of the Catalpa 

 sighted them, and the barque swept down on them with all sail 

 set. 



At that the police made sail and set men at the sweeps. But 

 with the fugitives lying flat on the bottom and the crew strain- 

 ing at the oars, the whaleboat shot alongside the Catalpa, and 

 the mate ordered all sails thrown hard aback. The men seized 

 the swinging tackles, and passed them to the second mate and 



