2l4 A YEAR WITH A WHALER 



Hauling bare-handed on ropes of solid ice was 

 painful labor, and Belay all! " often came like 

 a benediction to souls in torment. Then we had 

 much ado whipping our hands against our sides 

 to restore the circulation. After Big Foot Louis 

 had frozen a finger, the captain permitted us to 

 keep our mittens on. 



Work aloft under such conditions was dan- 

 gerous. Our walrus-hide boots were heelless 

 and extremely slippery and our footing on the 

 foot-ropes was precarious. We had to depend 

 as much upon our hands as upon our feet to 

 keep from falling when strung out for reefing 

 along the topsail yard. Many were the slips 

 and hair-breadth escapes. It seems now, on 

 looking back on it, almost miraculous that some 

 of us green hands did not tumble to our death. 



We saw whales frequently. Sometimes the 

 boats were lowered half a dozen times a day. 

 Often we spent whole days in the boats, and 

 even in our skin clothes it was freezing business 

 sitting still on the gunwale of a beam-ended boat 

 driving along at thrilling speed in the teeth of 

 an Arctic gale. Our skipper was a good gam- 



