ong waters indeed, guessing
that a dram would help us both; and after I had made a meal off some
raw pork and molasses spread upon the ship's biscuit, which was mouldy
and astir with weevils, I took my lantern and again went on deck, and
made my way to the galley where the oil jar stood, and here in a
drawer I found what now I most needed, but what before I had
overlooked; I mean a parcel; of braided lamp wicks. I trimmed the lamp
and got a brilliant light. The glass protected the flame from the rush
of the wind about the deck. I guessed there would be nothing worth
finding in the barque's forecastle, and not doubting that there was a
lazarette in which would be stored such ship provisions as the crew
had left behind them, I returned to the cabin, looked for the
lazarette hatch, and found it under the table.

Well, to cut this part of the story short, Sweers and I dropped into
the lazarette, and after spending an hour or two in examining what we
met with, we discovered enough provisions, along with some casks of
rum and bottled beer, to last a ship's company of twenty men a whole
six months. This was Sweers' reckoning. We carried some of the bottled
beer into the cabin, and having pipes and tobacco with us in our
pockets, we filled and smoked, and sat listening to the wet storming
down the decks overhead, and to the roaring of the wind on high, and
to the crackling noises of the ice.

That first night with us on board the whaler was a fearful time.
Sometimes we dozed as we sat confronting each other on the lockers,
but again and again would we start up and go on deck, but only to look
into the blindness of the night, and only to hearken to the appalling
noises of the weather and the ice. When day broke there was nothing in
sight. It was blowing strong, a high sea was running, and the ocean
lay shrouded as though with vapour.

During the course of the morning we entered the forepeak, where we
found a quantity of coal. This enabled us to light the galley fire, to
cook a piece of pork, and to boil some coffee. Towards noon Sweers
proposed to inspect the hold, and to see what was inside the ship.
Accordingly we opened the main hatch and found the vessel loaded with
casks, some of which we examined and found them full of oil.

"By tunder!" cried Sweers; "if we could only carry this vessel home
there'd be a fortune for both of us, David. Shall I tell you what this
sort of oil's worth? Well, it's worth about thirty pounds