EDGING SOUTHWARD. 237 



upon my dusky harpooner, who had saved my life, but 

 was now apparently blissfully unconscious of having done 

 anything meritorious. 



Behold us, then, a half-drowned row of scarecrows 

 perched, like some new species of dilapidated birds, upon 

 the side of our late foe. The sun was not so furiously 

 hot as usual, for masses of rain-laden nimbi were fillinsr 

 the sky, so that we were comparatively free from the 

 awful roasting we might have expected ; nor was our 

 position as precarious for a while as would be thought. 

 True, we had only one harpoon, with its still fast line, to 

 hold on by; but the side of the whale was somehow 

 hollowed, so that, in spite of the incessant movement im- 

 parted to the carcass by the swell, we sat fairly safe, with 

 our feet in the said hollow. We discussed the situation 

 in all its bearings, unable to extract more than the 

 faintest gleam of hope from any aspect of the case. The 

 only reasonable chance we had was, that the skipper had 

 almost certainly taken our bearings, and would, we were 

 sure, be anxiously seeking us on the course thus indicated. 

 Meanwhile, we were ravenously hungry and thirsty. 

 Samuela and Polly set to work with their sheath-knives, 

 and soon excavated a space in the blubber to enable 

 them to reach the meat. Then they cut off some good- 

 sized junks, and divided it up. It was not half bad; and 

 as we chewed on the tough black fibre, I could hardly 

 help smiling as I thought how queer a Christmas dinner 

 we were having. But eating soon heightened our thirst, 

 and our real sufferings then began. We could eat very 

 little once the want of drink made itself felt. Hardly 

 two hours had elapsed, though, before one of the big- 

 bellied clouds which had been keeping the sun off us 



most considerately emptied out upon us a perfect torrent 

 17 



