PROGRESS OF TEE "HUMPBACK" SEASON. 267 



soon out of sight ; but we were very uncomfortable. The 

 boat, of course, rode like a duck, but we were fully exposed 

 to the open sea ; and the mighty swell of the Pacific, 

 rolling in over those comparatively shallow grounds, 

 sometimes looked dangerously like breaking. Still, it 

 was better than the cave, and there was a good prospect 

 of supper. Long before we expected her, back came the 

 boat, bringing bountiful provision of yams, cold pork 

 and fruit — a regular banquet to men who were fasting 

 since daylight. A square meal, a comforting pipe, and 

 the night's vigil, which had looked so formidable, no 

 longer troubled us, although, to tell the truth, we were 

 heartily glad when the dawn began to tint the east with 

 pale emerald and gold. We set to work at once, getting 

 the huge carcass to the surface without as much labour 

 as I had anticipated. Of course all hands came to the 

 rescue. 



But, alas for the fruit of our labours ! Those 

 hungry monsters had collected in thousands, and, to judge 

 from what we were able to see of the body, they had 

 reduced its value alarmingly. However, we Commenced 

 towing, and were getting along fairly well, when a long 

 spur of reef to leeward of us, over which the sea was 

 breaking frightfully, seemed to be stretching farther out 

 to intercept us before we could get into smooth water. 

 The fact soon faced us that we were in the remorseless 

 grip of a current that set right over that reef, and against 

 its steady stream all our efforts were the merest triviality. 

 Still, we hung on, struggling desperately to keep what 

 we had earned, until so close to the roaring, foaming line 

 of broken water, that one wave breaking farther out than 

 the rest very nearly swamped us all. One blow of an 

 axe, one twirl of the steer-oars, and with all the force we 

 could muster, we were pulling away from the ¥ery jaws 



