STEALING A MARCH. 501 



alongside, " flensed," or stripped of its blubber, which, as soon as the men 

 could be spared, was " made off" " into oil, and stored in the hold. 



Meanwhile a rare and humorous incident occurred, which showed that 

 Penny, in keeping his weather eye open, occasionally saw something to his 

 advantage. He was up in the crow's-nest, and, sweeping the horizon with 

 his telescope, he saw a huge black mass lying on the surface of the sea, 

 about five miles ahead of the " Advice." It was a dead fish worth £500 at 

 least. Now, as there were two ships between the " Advice " and this moun- 

 tain of blubber, it was necessary to act warily, in order to pass these ships 

 and reach the treasure, which of course would be the prize of the first 

 comer. Trusting to no man on board. Penny himself started ofi" with 

 a well-manned boat. He went cautiously and slowly at first, careful lest he 

 should rouse the attention of the other masters, who would be sure to 

 wonder what game he was after. As soon as he had passed the boats of 

 the other ships, however, he gave orders to go on at full speed. Goodsir 

 mounted to the "crow's-nest," to watch the event of Penny's stratagem. 

 " Luckily," says he, " during this time, the masters of the other ships had 

 not been in their ' crow's-nests ' — being busily engaged with their captured 

 fish, so that they did not notice our cautious manoeuvring. But now, one 

 of them ascending, noticed (as he afterwards informed us) my long form 

 standing erect on the seat of the ' nest,' with telescope fixed to my eye, and 

 seemingly greatly interested in what was going on ahead of his own boats. 

 They are quick-witted as well as quick-sighted, most of these same whaling- 

 masters ; so, seeing at once that something was in the wind, his own glass 

 was immediately applied in the same direction, when he at once saw one of 

 our pretty white boats pulling rapidly towards an object that he almost at 

 the same time discerned — an object, too, worth some little trouble to attain 

 possession of. But he at once saw it was too late. . . . Our good out- 

 look gained us possession of the valuable prize ; for now I could see those 

 in the boat waving the blue 'jack' aloft in triumph. I shouted out 

 ' a fall ! ' to those on deck, which was loudly and gladly responded to, and 

 the ship's jack was again hoisted to the mizzen-top, not a little to the aston- 

 ishment, and, I daresay, causing not a little envy, amongst those of the 

 other ships, who had not noticed what was going on in the ' Advice.' " The 

 immense carcass of the whale, swelled to an enormous size by the genera- 

 tion of gases, was soon towed to the ship's side, " flensed," and " made off"" in 



the usual way. 



The voyage was now to all intents and purposes at an end. It was 

 Penny's first duty to sail at once for home with his valuable cargo. That duty 

 he successfully accomplished in the early autumn. He and Goodsir then 

 parted, to meet again on the trim deck of the " Lady Franklin," for another 

 and a more eff"ective " search " for the missing mariners. 



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