WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 47 



sixty tons of fresh water alone we make nine and a half 

 knots ! but with our canvas unloosed and a light breeze 

 behind us might even reel off eleven to twelve. 



Not many miles out at sea a Killer (or Orca gladiator) 

 appeared coming from starboard. Our guns were all covered 

 with canvas so we did not clear for action, and the Killer is 

 not of much value. He came towards us and passed forty 

 yards astern, a fact which greatly comforted us, for " those 

 who know " on shore informed us a motor would drive away 

 whales, but how they knew it is hard to say. Then it was 

 said so often, and with such a sense of conviction, that with- 

 out acknowledging it, we had a slight sense of chill. This 

 Cetacean, a whale of, say, thirty feet, took not the least 

 notice of our crew, and as our fortunes depend on being able 

 to approach the leviathans of the ocean, without frightening 

 them, the incident, though apparently small, gave us 

 considerable encouragement. 



Our first day at sea has passed very busily and we go 

 below for a spell to our blankets, early, and tired, but with 

 a joy beyond words at turning in again to a cosy bunk 

 with everything at hand pipe, books, paints, even music 

 (practice pipe chanter), all within arm's-reach, an open port 

 and chilly, clean air, and the faintest suggestion of move- 

 ment ; such luxuries you may not have on shore. 



The sea did not hide its teeth for long. After sundown 

 skirts of rain appeared from threatening clouds on the 

 distant Norse coast. Gradually they spread across our 

 track, bands of little ripples, like mackerel playing, appeared 

 on the smooth swell, and these spread and joined till all the 

 sea was dark with a breeze, which in a few hours grew to a 

 strong wind against us. 



As we passed Ry vingen Light on the south of Norway the 

 night grew dismal and rough ; we watched its revolving 

 four-flash light, which seemed to be answered by the three 

 flashes we saw lit up the sky from the light on Hentsholme 

 in Denmark, over forty miles to our south, and the gloomy 

 sky over the Skagerak was lit with occasional angry flashes 

 of lightning. 



Unpromising weather for our first night at sea ! 



