MEETING A SHIPMATE. 29 



t persuaded my old friend to postpone the 

 drinking, and we locked arms and took a "walk 

 along the wharves, during which we talkec over 

 old times , compared notes as to our various adven- 

 tures since we had parted, some three years before, 

 and I finally learnt what had brought him to New 

 Bedford, the very last place where I should have 

 expected to see so staunch an old sailor as my 

 former topmate. It was not lack of funds, as 1 

 had at first imagined, but simply a caprice of the 

 old fellow, who had been a whaleman in his early 

 youth, and had now a notion to refresh his memo- 

 ries of auld lang syne by another cruise. 



"Besides," said he, "you know I can never 

 make anything in a merchantman, and the 

 Service is too strict for me ; so I think whaling 

 is perhaps my best refuge. It's a lazy sort of 

 life, and if one chooses aright, he need suffer 

 from very little except the inevitable blubber." 



Poor fellow, he was now growing old, and his 

 gray hairs and rheumatism warned him to choose 

 for himself an easy berth. So he had come down 

 to "Bedford" with the hope of securing a place 

 in some sperm whaler, as boatsteerer. 



His arrival was a most fortunate circumstance 

 for me, as he was able to post Tne up in all the 

 mysteries of shipping, as well as give me much 

 necessary advice concerning the kind of voyage 

 I ought to make choice of. Bill and I spent the 

 day very agreeably together, and parted at 



