OFF TO TEE JAPAN GROUNDS. 153 



seemed very bad indeed. Had any one told us that 

 morning that we should be sorry to see Captain Slocum 

 with sore bones, we should have scoffed at the notion, 

 and some of us would probably have said that we should 

 like to have the opportunity of making him smart. But 

 under the present circumstances, with some hundreds 

 of perfectly ruthless wretches hovering around us, 

 looking with longing eyes at the treasure we had along- 

 side, we could not help remembering the courage and 

 resource so often shown by the skipper, and wished with 

 all our hearts that we could have the benefit of them 

 now. As soon as dinner was over, we all "turned to " 

 with a will to get the whale cut in. None of us required 

 to be told that to lay all night with that whale alongside 

 would be extremely unhealthy for us, great doubt existing 

 as to whether any of us would see morning dawn again. 

 There was, too, just a possibility that when the carcass, 

 stripped of its blubber, was cut adrift, those ravenous 

 crowds would fasten upon it, and let us go in peace. 



All hands, therefore, worked like Trojans. There 

 was no need to drive us, nor was a single harsh word 

 spoken. Nothing was heard but the almost incessant 

 clatter of the windlass pawls, abrupt monosyllabic 

 orders, and the occasional melancholy wail of a gannet 

 overhead. No word had been spoken on the subject 

 among us, yet somehow we all realized that we were 

 working for a large stake — no less than our lives. What ! 

 says somebody, within a few miles of Hong Kong ? 

 Oh yes ; and even within Hong Kong harbour itself, if 

 opportunity offers. Let any man go down the wharf at 

 Hong Kong after sunset, and hail a sampan from the 

 hundreds there that are waiting to be hired. Hardly 

 will the summons have left his lips before a white 



