SKINNING THE SEAL. 281 



preparation for any machinery." So friend Dennis, 

 not thinking any more of his grandmother, lent me 

 a hand, and I again set to work. My fellow work- 

 man pulled his sleeves up, and at it we both went. 

 The grease, or blubber, or ile, or whatever name 

 it comes under, ran down my arms, down my body, 

 and between the waistband of my trousers, till I 

 was as greasy as if I had been in an oil pot, and 

 Dennis soon became the same ; it was a real juicy 

 business ; but he revelled in the knowledge that he 

 was getting grase for his wheels : and the idea 

 never entered his head, that if he did not change 

 his shirt or wash himself for the next fortnight, he 

 would be next to a pot-pourri, or some scent that 

 it would puzzle even Rimmel to manufacture, in fact, 

 a regular nosegay. After the skinning business was 

 over, it entered my mind that seal might not be so 

 very bad to eat ; accordingly I cut down into him, 

 and after going over my knife blade in fat, I cut 

 some slices of meat from his ribs ; it did not look at 

 all bad, so I borrowed a frying pan from the inn 

 where I was staying, got some pepper and salt and 

 some lumps of red-hot peat from a cottage that was 

 hard by, and making a fire on the ground -we had 

 a broil. I tasted some myself, and with a great deal 



