'* BO WES AD'' FISEING. 197 



to his lips, as if endeavouring to drag his mouth open — 

 which I afterwards saw was their principal object, as 

 whenever during the tumult I caught sight of them, they 

 were still in the same position. At last the tremendous 

 and incessant blows, dealt by the most active member 

 of the trio, seemed actually to have exhausted the 

 immense vitality of the great bowhead, for he lay supine 

 upon the surface. Then the three joined their forces, 

 and succeeded in dragging open his cavernous mouth, 

 into which they freely entered, devouring his tongue. 

 This, then, had been their sole object, for as soon as 

 they had finished their barbarous feast they departed, 

 leaving him helpless and dying to fall an easy prey to our 

 returning boats. 



Thus, although the four whales captured by the boats 

 had been but small, the day's take, augmented by so 

 great a find, was a large one, and it was a long time 

 before we got clear of the work it entailed. 



From that time forward we saw no whales for six 

 weeks, and, from the reports we received from two 

 whalers we " gammed," it appeared that we might con- 

 siuer ourselves most fortunate in our catch, since they, 

 who had been longer on the ground than ourselves, had 

 only one whale apiece. 



In consequence of this information, Captain Slocum 

 decided to go south again, and resume the sperm whaling 

 in the North Pacific, near the line — at least so the 

 rumour ran ; but as we never heard anything definitely, 

 we could not feel at all certain of our next destination. 



Ever since the fracas at the Bonins between Goliath 

 and his watch, the relations between Captain Slocum and 

 the big negro had been very strained. Even before the 

 outbreak, as I have remarked upon one occasion, it was 



