3G0 THE CRUISE OF THE " CACHALOTS 



However, all went well ; the usual gale did blow, but 

 not till we had got the last piece aboard and a good 

 "slant" to run in, arriving at our previous moorings 

 at midnight. In the morning the skipper went down in 

 his boat to visit the stations, and see how they had fared. 

 Old hand as he was, I think he was astonished to see 

 what progress those fellows had made with the fish. 

 They did not reach the stations till after midnight, but 

 already they had the whales half flenched, and, by the 

 way they were working, it looked as if they would be 

 through with their task as soon as we were with ours. 

 Their agreement with the skipper was to yield us half 

 the oil they made, and, if agreeable to them, we wo aid 

 take their moiety at £40 per tun. Consequently they 

 had something to work for, even though there were 

 twenty of them to share the spoil. They were a merry 

 party, eminently good tempered, and working as though 

 one spirit animated them all. If there was a leader of 

 the band, he did his of&ce with great subtilty, for all 

 seemed equal, nor did any appear to need directing what 

 to do. Fired by their example, we all worked our hardest ; 

 but they beat us by half a day, mainly, I think, by dint 

 of working nearly all the time with scarce any interval 

 for sleep. True, they were bound to take advantage of 

 low water when their huge prize was high and dry — to 

 get at him easily all round. Their method was of the 

 simplest. With gaff-hooks to haul back the pieces, and 

 short-handled spades for cutting, they worked in pairs, 

 taking off square slabs of blubber about a hundredweight 

 each. As soon as a piece was cut off, the pair tackled 

 on to it, dragging it up to the pots, where the cooks 

 hastily sliced it for boiling, interspersing their labours 

 with attention to the simmering cauldrons. 



Their efforts realized twenty-four tuns of clear oil 



