BLUBBER AND SONG 205 



the whale was finally killed close to the spot at 

 which it had first been struck. 



When the sharp, fast work of the boats ended, 

 five mighty carcasses lay stretched upon the sea. 

 The great whale drive, which had lasted less 

 than an hour, had bagged game worth something 

 like $60,000. 



The three ships soon sailed to close quarters 

 and the boats had a comparatively easy time get- 

 ting the whales alongside. That night the try- 

 works were started and big cressets whose flames 

 were fed by " scrap " flared up on all the ships, 

 lighting them in ghostly-wise from the deck to 

 the topmost sail. 



At the cutting in of this whale I had my first 

 experience at the windlass. The heaviest labor 

 falls to the sailors who man the windlass and 

 hoist in the great blanket pieces of blubber and 

 the old head." Gabriel, the happiest-spirited 

 old soul aboard, bossed the job, as he always did, 

 and cheered the sailors and made the hard work 

 seem like play by his constant chanteys — those 

 catchy, tuneful, working songs of the sea. All 

 the old sailors on the brig knew these songs by 



