ch had come
to him of examining the wonders of a region hitherto locked up from
civilized man. Captain Hubbell was astonished to find that Mr. Gibbs
was as hard and unyielding as an iceberg during his explorations and
soundings. It was of no use to talk to him of whaling; he had work
before him, and he must do it.

But the time came when Mr. Gibbs relented. The Dipsey had sailed around
the whole boundary of the polar sea; observations, surveys, and maps had
been made, and the general geography of the region had been fairly well
determined. There still remained some weeks of the arctic day, and it
was desirable that they should begin their return journey during that
time; so Mr. Gibbs informed Captain Jim that if he wanted to do a little
whaling, he would like him to lose no time.

Almost from the time of their arrival in the polar sea the subject of
whales had greatly interested everybody on the Dipsey. Even Rovinski,
who had been released from his confinement after a few days, because
he had really committed no actual crime except that of indulging in
overleaping ambition, had spent every available minute of leisure in
looking for whales. It was strange that nothing in this Northern region
interested the people on the Dipsey (with the sole exception of Mr.
Gibbs) so much as these great fish, which seemed to be the only visible
inhabitants of the polar solitudes. There were probably white
bears somewhere on the icy shores about them, but they never showed
themselves; and if birds were there, they did not fly over that sea.

There was reason to suppose that there were a good many whales in the
polar sea. Wherever our party sailed, lay to, or anchored for a time,
they were very sure, before long, to see a whale curving his shining
black back into the light, or sending two beautiful jets of water up
into the air. Whenever a whale was seen, somebody on board was sure to
remark that these creatures in this part of the world seemed to be very
tame. It was not at all uncommon to see one disport himself at no great
distance from the vessel for an hour or more.

"If I could get among a school of whales anywhere around Nantucket and
find 'em as tame as these fellers," said Captain Jim, "I'd give a boom
to the whale-oil business that it hasn't had for forty years."

But not long before Mr. Gibbs told the captain that he might go whaling
if he felt like it, the old sailor had experienced a change of mind. He
had become a most