20 THE WHALE HUNTERS 



a lesser envoy of George II that Mr. Oakley had left 

 England for the colony of New England. He had not 

 been a wealthy man but what little he had possessed had 

 gone down with the ill-fated Jane Seymour, for the Oakleys 

 had anticipated a long stay in New England, his appoint- 

 ment having been of a permanent nature, and they had 

 taken with them all their worldly belongings. Jonathan's 

 sole inheritance from his father was the education he had 

 received; but that, in a lad of mettle, is more than the 

 value of silver and gold, as Jonathan found when later he 

 grew to manhood. 



In addition to feeding the livestock and helping in the 

 inn he was able to relieve Mr. Mather of the task of keep- 

 ing the accounts and was kept so occupied with one 

 thing and another that he had little time to grieve about 

 the past or to worry about the future. As the weeks 

 passed he quickly regained the weight he had lost and Mrs. 

 Mather was as proud of him as if he had been her own 

 son. Joseph, her youngest son, she told him, was away 

 on the other side of the island hunting the whale, and the 

 three older boys were in whaleships somewhere in the 

 Atlantic. 



One fine spring morning as the sun peeped through the 

 sea mist Jonathan slung a satchel of food over his shoulder 

 and waving farewell to Mr. and Mrs. Mather at the door 

 of the inn he set out across the island for the south-east 

 coast to find the whaling camp where he knew that 

 Joseph Mather was employed and to see for himself the way 

 in which whales were hunted from the shore. Stepping 

 out at good speed he followed the low ridges of sparse 

 pasture that encircled the marshes and after a few hours 

 came in sight of the tall lookout spars that stretched 

 at intervals of several miles along the coast ahead of 

 him. 



It was still not yet noon when he sighted the cluster of 

 huts and trying-out ovens. He quickened his pace to 



