2U A YEAR WITH A WHALER 



throughout the night the brig had sailed at ran- 

 dom and twenty miles or so away the whale in 

 its floe had been drifting at random. Now how 

 were we going to find our whale again? This 

 struck me that morning on the open sea with 

 neither whale nor ice in sight, as a problem cer- 

 tainly very nice, if not hopeless. The way it was 

 solved was as pretty a feat of navigation as I 

 ever saw. 



When Captain Shorey came on deck after 

 breakfast, he " shot the sun " through his sex- 

 tant and went below to make his calculations. 

 In a little while he came on deck again and 

 stepped to the man at the wheel. The helmsman 

 was steering full and by. 



" How do you head? " asked Captain Shorey. 



" Northwest," answered the sailor. 



" Keep her northwest by west half west," said 

 the captain. 



For several hours the brig sailed steadily on 

 this course. Along about 9 o'clock, we saw the 

 peculiar, cold, light look above the sky line ahead 

 which meant ice and which sailors call an " ice 

 horizon," to be distinguished at a glance from 



