had Lord Joe, the Jamaica nigger.

Murphy and Costa bore south to head the school, and Garboy and I bore
straight for them. Raced to see who would first back, and I won.
Backed a big bull, and Silva gave him the iron deep. He flurried
without sounding, and I did not have to lance. Garboy backed his whale
and Lord Joe made a poor cast, and they lost the fish. I backed a cow,
and made fast. She sounded, but we overhauled at her first blow, and I
lanced. Short flurry. Two fish in less than hour!

Garboy went for a big bull. He had put Lord Joe at the sweep, and was
going to harpoon himself. He backed, and made a fine cast. But the
fish, instead of sounding, turned on their boat, and took it in his
mouth. They all spilled clear except Lord Joe; the poor nigger was
caught. Then the fish sounded, and made off with a tub of line. I
picked up Garboy and his crew, all except Lord Joe--the nigger was
gone--and I made fast to the wreckage. Garboy was wild. I never heard
better swearing.

Costa and Murphy both made a kill, making four fish. And Costa picked
up a lump of amber grease near his kill. Captain Peabody was very
pleased with my work, but he dug into old Garboy. The mate squirmed,
and it tickled me, because he has bragged so much about his record. He
damned Lord Joe mightily, but Lord Joe don't mind, he is with Davy
Jones. The ambergrease weighs twenty-five pounds. A fine day's work!

"There you are, 'a fine day's work,' and the pestiferous Mr. Garboy
taken down a peg. I read the entire entry, but the part that really
concerns us, is the part about the ambergris they picked up. Tell me,
Blake, do you know anything about ambergris?"

"No, never heard of the stuff," answered Martin.

"Then we will have to digress a moment, while I attend to your
neglected education," said Little Billy. "Because, from tonight, you
will think of ambergris by day, and dream of it by night--ambergris in
kegs, oodles of it! I don't suppose your legal training acquainted you
with the technical details of the perfume industry?"

"No, I must plead ignorance," conceded Martin.

"Then pay attention," admonished Little Billy. "Ambergris, my friend,
is the stuff John Winters calls ambergrease, like the good whaleman he
was. It is a waxy substance, very light weight, that forms inside of a
sperm whale, and which friend whale belches forth when he gets the
colic from feasting too heartily upon squid. Squid, otherwise