78 THE WHALE HUNTERS 



the vast area of pack ice and brought her to where the 

 whales had been sighted. 



'Where are they, Mather, where are the whales thou 

 sawest?' cried the captain, angry at finding nothing there 

 but a few seals clustered on a floe. 



'He come to them much too quick,' whispered old 

 Pierre in Jonathan's ear. 'The ship, she frighten the wise 

 old fellows and they dive under the ice.' 



'Gone to earth, eh?' said Jonathan, but the phrase was 

 wasted on Pierre. 



An hour later there was still no sign of whale and the 

 company had settled down to the workaday chores of 

 ship's routine. 



In the small foul-smelling galley Jonathan was cutting 

 up some whalemeat for supper. Pierre was away in 

 another part of the ship and when behind him there came 

 the sound of someone entering the boy thought quite 

 naturally that it was the cook returning; but when he 

 turned he saw, leaning against the closed door, the large 

 figure of Nathaniel Sykes. 



Jonathan faced the man squarely enough but his knees 

 suddenly felt very weak. 



Sykes broke the silence that followed. 'You've been 

 talking, I know you 'ave.' He still leaned heavily with his 

 back against the door. 



'I have not broken my vow of silence if that is your 

 meaning,' replied Jonathan with beating heart. 



'That Indian friend of yours knows something,' the 

 deep guttural voice insisted. 



'Nothing that I have told him.' Jonathan fought to 

 keep his voice from trembling. 



Sykes lurched towards the boy and with the door no 

 longer supporting him he was unsteady on his feet. 

 Jonathan caught the smell of rum. 



'You lie,' growled Sykes. 



Jonathan felt for the knife that he knew lay upon the 



