146 WHALING AND fISHINO. 



Meantime, the disappointed mate of the Betsy 

 Ann had gone off after another whale, which, for- 

 tui.e favoring him, he succeeded in killing a little 

 before sun-set, after a tedious chase. 



" I'll beat you yet, on a fair race, Osborne, ' 

 hailed he the next day, as cutting in, the two ship* 

 drifted near together. 



"Never mind the racing; we got the whale," 

 was all the answer vouchsafed to this taunt. 



When done cutting in w T e separated, and each 

 steering his own way, we saw no more of the 

 New Bedford man. 



Standing slowly along the African coast, we one 

 day, nine or ten days after our rencontre with the 

 Betsy Ann, sighted some low, thickly wooded 

 islands, skirting the mainland, and forming with 

 that a sort of rude road-stead. 



" Those are the Bazaroota islands," said the 

 captain, as I stood at the wheel ; " I've heard them 

 spoken of as a good place to obtain fire-wood, and 

 as we shall need some before getting to any better 

 place, I guess we'll drop in there." 



The glad tidings were soon known to all on 

 board. The anchors were hurriedly loosened on 

 the bows, the chains bent, and a few other prepa- 

 rations made for bringing the ship to for a couple 

 of days. In two hours we were in five fathoms 

 water, about two and a half miles from the main- 

 land, the islets lying at various distances, from 

 half a mile to three miles from us. Her< the ship 

 was brought to. 



