THE RUNAWAYS. 



91 



served of her, and many began to think we had been deceived by 

 refraction ; but at length the captain exclaimed, £ I can now see 

 the boat, though a mere speck. I should not wonder if it is one 

 of my own left here on the last voyage, and manned by Esqui- 

 maux.' I looked long and attentively. At last I saw the flash 

 of oars following each stroke, as the dazzling yays of a western 

 sun fell upon the uplifted blades. I could see nothing else but 

 these oars, and to me it seemed as if the rowers were pulling 

 quickly — desperately. The excitement now became great among 

 us, especially as the distance decreased between the boat and the 



ship. Captain B thought it was an Esquimaux crew, and 



Mr. Eogers said the men were white. 



u As they neared, it struck me that the rowers — now to be seen 

 more clearly — might be some shipwrecked mariners pulling for 

 dear life ; and to ascertain this, the ship was deadened in her way. 

 In a few moments more the strange boat was near enough to 

 make her crew out for white men, nine in number ; and directly 



they got alongside, a question was put by Captain B as to 



who they were. The steersman promptly answered, ' Crew from 

 the Ansell Gibbs, of New Bedford.' In reply to another question, 

 he said, 1 We are from the north, and bound to the south.' This 

 was enough to satisfy us that they were runaways. 



"In a few minutes a variety of questions was put as to the 

 number of ships, the whaling, etc., in Northumberland Inlet, where 

 we conjectured the Ansell Gibbs to be ; and then the inquiry was 

 made of them, 'You are runaways, are you not?' The response 

 immediately was, ' Yes, we are !' They then told us that they 

 had left Kingaite, in Northumberland Sound, on Saturday, August 

 2d, at 11 P.M., and had thus run the distance, 250 miles to where 

 we met them, in less than three days. The reason they gave for 

 deserting their ship was because of 'bad treatment on board,' and 

 'not having enough to eat.' They explained about this, and 

 added much more, which may or may not be true. At all events, 

 they made up their minds to start for the United States on the first 

 chance, and this they did by taking a whale-boat, two tubs of 

 whale-line, three harpoons and as many lances, a ' conjuror' — that 

 is, a portable cooking apparatus — two guns and ammunition, a 

 small quantity of provisions, a few blankets, and other trifling 

 things ; and this to go a voyage over a tempestuous sea, part of 

 it often full of ice, and along an iron-bound coast, for a distance 

 of say 1500 miles ! However, there they were so far. One in- 



