150 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES. 



By the time we had hoisted in the boat it 

 was quite dark ; the wind, too, had increased to 

 half a gale, with heavy squalls at times, so that 

 we were obliged to double reef our topsails. We 

 had lost one of our men who had sailed with us 

 from England, the bare thought of which, in 

 our circumstances, aroused a crowd of heart- 

 rending ideas. Our captain and second mate, 

 with ten of the crew, had disappeared, and were 

 by that time all lost or likely to be so, in the 

 stormy night which had set in : being, too, sev- 

 eral hundred miles away from land. We, how- 

 ever, kept beating the ship to windward con- 

 stantly, carrying all the sail she could bear, 

 making " short boards," or putting about every 

 twenty minutes. We had also, since night fell, 

 continued to burn lights ; and we had likewise 

 a large vessel, containing oil and unravelled 

 rope, burning over the stern rail of the ship, 

 as a beacon for them, which threw out great 

 light. 



But although all eyes were employed in 

 every direction, searching for the boats, no 

 vestige of them could be seen ; and, therefore, 



