HUNTING THE SEA OTTER. 41 



rocks above the surface ; had we drawn a little more water 

 we should inevitably have stuck on a reef. True, the sea 

 was calm and there was no wind, but on this coast five 

 minutes is a sufficient time to bring a gale howling about 

 one's ears, and a sea heavy enough to break up a frigate 

 will sometimes set in where but an hour before all was calm 

 and smiling. Consequently, we were very thankful for 

 escaping from what might have been at least a dangerous 

 position, entailing further delay. The fog showed no signs 

 of coming on again, so we proceeded with renewed con- 

 fidence, but so slowly that evening was fast drawing in 

 before we rounded Cape Noshap, and we were compelled to 

 anchor for an hour through the wind falling. After tea a 

 light breeze sprang up, and, turning our bow to the south- 

 west, we ran down the other or the western side of the 

 peninsula till Nemoro light was sighted; there we anchored 

 for the night about a hundred yards from the island which 

 shelters the settlement and on which the light is placed ; the 

 anchor watch was set, and we were not sorry to get below. 

 There was a good deal of what a Chinaman would call 

 " talkee talkee " in the cabin that night. All were well 

 aware that we had reached the most momentous period in 

 our cruise. Our own suspicions, amply confirmed by the 

 information obtained on board the Kuroda, left little doubt 

 that the recovery of our stores left in the hands of the 

 Governor would be attended with some difficulty, though 

 how he could refuse to restore property to which he could 

 not lay the slightest claim and for which we possessed his 

 own sealed and signed receipt was a question we could not 

 solve; but the ways of a Japanese Governor are frequently 

 inscrutable. A charge for storage it was certainly his right 

 to impose, if he thought fit, and that, of course, we were 

 quite willing to pay ; anyway, the fact could not be over- 

 looked that it was within his power to be very obstructive 

 and disagreeable, for his authority here was almost absolute. 

 The Government, to whom alone he was accountable, was 

 some hundreds of miles distant, and we knew well that any 



