108 TEE CRUISE OF TEE "CACEALOT." 



cressets were prepared, and by their blaze we toiled 

 the whole night through. Truth compels me to state, 

 though, that none of us foremast hands had nearly 

 such heavy work as the officers on the stage. What 

 they had to do demanded special knowledge and skill ; 

 but it was also terribly hard work, constant and un- 

 remitting, while we at the windlass had many a short 

 spell between the lifting of the pieces. Even the skipper 

 took a hand, for the first time, and right manfully did 

 he do his share. 



By the first streak of dawn, three of the whales had 

 been stripped of their blubber, and five heads were 

 bobbing astern at the ends of as many hawsers. The 

 sea all around presented a wonderful sight. There 

 must have been thousands of sharks gathered to the 

 feast, and their incessant incursions through the 

 phosphorescent water wove a dazzling network of 

 brilliant tracks which made the eyes ache to look upon. 

 A short halt was called for breakfast, which was greatly 

 needed, and, thanks to the cook, was a thoroughly good 

 one. He — blessings on him ! — had been busy fishing, as 

 we drifted slowly, with savoury pieces of whale-beef 

 for bait, and the result was a mess of fish which would 

 have gladdened the heart of an epicure. Our hunger 

 appeased, it was " turn to " again, for there was now 

 no time to be lost. The fierce heat soon acts upon the 

 carcass of a dead whale, generating an immense volume 

 of gas within it, which, in a wonderfully short space of 

 time, turns the flesh putrid and renders the blubber 

 so rotten that it cannot be lifted, nor, if it could, would 

 it be of any value. So it was no wonder that our haste 

 was great, or that the august arbiter of our destinies 

 himself condescended to take his place among the 



