said, reproachfully, shaking her head at the
captain, who was winking at the doctor with one eye in a most
obstreperous manner. "Do try another egg, Mr Rokens; the others, I am
sure, are fresh. I cannot imagine how a bad one came to be amongst
them."

"Ah, try another, my lad," echoed the captain. "Pass 'em up this way,
Mr Millons."

"By no manner o' means; I'll eat this 'un!" replied the harpooner,
commencing to eat the bad egg with apparent relish. "I like 'em this
way--better than nothin', anyhow. Bless ye, marm, ye've no notion wot
sort o' things I've lived on aboard ship--"

Rokens came to an abrupt pause in consequence of the servant-girl, at a
sign from her mistresses (for she always received duplicate orders),
seizing his plate and carrying it off bodily. It was immediately
replaced by a clean one and a fresh egg. While Rokens somewhat
nervously tapped the head of Number 6, Miss Martha, in order to divert
attention from him, asked Mr Millons if sea-fare was always salt junk
and hard biscuit?

"Oh, no, madam," answered the first mate. "We've sometimes salt pork,
and vegetables now and agin; and pea-soup, and plum-duff--"

"Plum-duff, Ailie," interrupted the captain, in order to explain, "is
just a puddin' with few plums and fewer spices in it. Something like a
white-painted cannon-shot, with brown spots on it here and there."

"Is it good?" inquired Ailie.

"Oh, ain't it!" remarked Mr Rokens, who had just concluded Number 6,
and felt his self-possession somewhat restored. "Yes, miss, it is; but
it ain't equal to whale's-brain fritters, it ain't; them's first-chop."

"Have whales got brains?" inquired Miss Martha, in surprise.

"Brains!" echoed Miss Jane, in amazement.

"Yes, madam, they 'ave," answered the first mate, who had hitherto
maintained silence, but having finished tea was now ready for any amount
of talk; "and what's more remarkable still, they've got several barrels
of oil in their skulls besides."

"Dear me!" exclaimed the sisters.

"Yes, ladies, capital oil it is, too; fetches a 'igher price hin the
markit than the other sort."

"By the bye, Millons, didn't you once fall into a whale's skull, and get
nearly drowned in oil?" inquired the doctor.

"I did," answered the first mate, with the air of a man who regarded
such an event as a mere trifle, that, upon consideration, might almost
be considered as rather a pleasant incident than otherwise in one's
history.

"Nearly dr