y at each other, and listening to Wolf Larsen's voice,
which easily penetrated the cabin through the intervening bulkhead. He
spoke at length, and his conclusion was greeted with a wild roar of
cheers. The bulkhead was too thick for us to hear what he said; but
whatever it was it affected the hunters strongly, for the cheering was
followed by loud exclamations and shouts of joy.

From the sounds on deck I knew that the sailors had been routed out and
were preparing to lower the boats. Maud Brewster accompanied me on deck,
but I left her at the break of the poop, where she might watch the scene
and not be in it. The sailors must have learned whatever project was on
hand, and the vim and snap they put into their work attested their
enthusiasm. The hunters came trooping on deck with shot-guns and
ammunition-boxes, and, most unusual, their rifles. The latter were
rarely taken in the boats, for a seal shot at long range with a rifle
invariably sank before a boat could reach it. But each hunter this day
had his rifle and a large supply of cartridges. I noticed they grinned
with satisfaction whenever they looked at the _Macedonia's_ smoke, which
was rising higher and higher as she approached from the west.

The five boats went over the side with a rush, spread out like the ribs
of a fan, and set a northerly course, as on the preceding afternoon, for
us to follow. I watched for some time, curiously, but there seemed
nothing extraordinary about their behaviour. They lowered sails, shot
seals, and hoisted sails again, and continued on their way as I had
always seen them do. The _Macedonia_ repeated her performance of
yesterday, "hogging" the sea by dropping her line of boats in advance of
ours and across our course. Fourteen boats require a considerable spread
of ocean for comfortable hunting, and when she had completely lapped our
line she continued steaming into the north-east, dropping more boats as
she went.

"What's up?" I asked Wolf Larsen, unable longer to keep my curiosity in
check.

"Never mind what's up," he answered gruffly. "You won't be a thousand
years in finding out, and in the meantime just pray for plenty of wind."

"Oh, well, I don't mind telling you," he said the next moment. "I'm
going to give that brother of mine a taste of his own medicine. In
short, I'm going to play the hog myself, and not for one day, but for the
rest of the season,--if we're in luck."

"And if we're not?" I queried.