A Long Period of Depression 121 



rope without his orders; he 'would go his own course, 

 and had no idea of trusting himself with a d^-d nut- 

 shell/ and then he went below for his pistols. I called 

 my right-hand man of the crew, and told him my situa- 

 tion; I also informed him that I wanted the maintop- 

 sail fitted. He answered with a clear 'Aye, aye, sir!' 

 in a manner which was not to be misunderstood, and 

 my confidence was perfectly restored. From that mo- 

 ment I became master of the vessel, and immediately 

 gave all necessary orders for making sail, notifying the 

 captain not to come on deck with his pistols unless he 

 wished to go overboard; for I really would have had 

 very little trouble in having such an order obeyed. 



"I made my report to Captain Downes, on rejoining 

 him, and the captain also told his story, in which he 

 endeavored to persuade Downes that he only tried to 

 frighten me. I replied by asking Captain Downes how 

 he succeeded." 



It was a serious matter to the young naval officer, 

 but the fact that Captain Randall said that he 

 would find himself "off New Zealand in the morn- 

 ing," though New Zealand was on the farther side 

 of the ocean, shows how the whaler really viewed 

 the matter. The fact is that in those days it was 

 the custom of whaler captains to take great interest 

 in the youngsters on their own ships, and to train 



