86 TEE CRUISE OF TEE " CACEALOT.'' 



trades blew steadily, we did not remain stationary alto- 

 gether. So that the following week saw us on the south 

 side of the tropic of Capricorn, the south-east trade done, 

 and the dirty weather and variable squalls, which nearly 

 always precede the "westerlies," making our lives a 

 burden to us. Here, however, we were better off than in 

 an ordinary merchantman, where doldrums are enough 

 to drive you mad. The one object being to get along, it 

 is incessant "pully-hauly," setting and taking in sail, 

 in order, on the one hand, to lose no time, and, on the 

 other, to lose no sails. Now, with us, whenever the 

 weather was doubtful or squally-looking, we shortened 

 sail, and kept it fast till better weather came along, 

 being quite careless whether we made one mile a day or 

 one hundred. But just because nobody took any notice 

 of our progress as the days passed, we were occasionally 

 startled to find how far we had really got. This was 

 certainly the case with all of us forward, even to me 

 who had some experience, so well used had I now become 

 to the leisurely way of getting along. To the laziest of 

 ships, however, there comes occasionally a time when 

 the bustling, hurrying wind will take no denial, and 

 you've got to " git up an' git," as the Yanks put it. Such 

 a time succeeded our " batterfanging " about, after losing 

 the trades. We got hold of a westerly wind that, com- 

 mencing quietly, gently, steadily, taking two or three 

 days before it gathered force and volume, strengthened 

 at last into a stern, settled gale that would brook no 

 denial, to face which would have been misery indeed. 

 To vessels bound east it came as a boon and blessing, 

 for it would be a crawler that could not reel off her two 

 hundred and fifty miles a day before the push of such a 

 breeze. Even the Cachalot did her one hundred and 



