ave," and was well fast to his fish. The
animal made a great circuit, running completely round the Mermaid, at a
distance which enabled those on board her to see all that was passing.
When nearest to the brig, and the water was curling off the bow of the
boat in combs two feet higher than her gunwale, under the impulse given
by the frantic career of the whale, Bridget pressed closer to her
husband's side, and, for the first time in her life, mentally thanked
Heaven that he was the governor, since that was an office which did not
require him to go forth and kill whales. At that very moment, Mark was
burning with the desire to have a hand in the sport, though he certainly
had some doubts whether such an occupation would suitably accord with
the dignity of his office.

Walker got alongside of his whale, within half a mile of the two brigs,
and to-leeward of both. In consequence of this favourable circumstance,
the Henlopen soon had its prize hooked on, and her people at work
stripping off the blubber. This is done by hooking the lower block of a
powerful purchase in a portion of the substance, and then cutting a
strip of convenient size, and heaving on the fall at the windlass. The
strip is cut by implements called spades, and the blubber is torn from
the carcass by the strain, after the sides of the "blanket-piece," as
the strip is termed, are separated from the other portions of the animal
by the cutting process. The "blanket-pieces" are often raised as high
as the lower mast-heads, or as far as the purchase will admit of its
being carried, when a transverse cut is made, and the whole of the
fragment is lowered on deck. This "blanket-piece" is then cut into
pieces and put into the try-works, a large boiler erected on deck, in
order to be "tryed-out," when the oil is cooled, and "started" below
into casks. In this instance, the oil was taken on board the Abraham as
fast as it was "tryed-out" on board the Henlopen, the weather admitting
of the transfer.

But that single whale was far from being the only fruits of Betts'
discovery. The honest old Delaware seaman took two more whales himself.
Socrates making fast, and he killing the creatures. The boats of the
Henlopen also took two more, and that of the Abraham, one. Betts in the
Martha, and the governor in the Mermaid towed four of these whales into
the southern channel, and into what now got the name of the Whaling
Bight. This was the spot where Betts had tryed out the f