d tinder-box--the lantern
to be used as a signal when caught out at night--a compass, and perhaps
a small cooking-apparatus. A whale-boat, when going in chase, has a
crew of six men: one is called the headsman, the other the boat-steerer.
The headsman has the command of the boat. He is either the captain, or
one of his mates, or one of the most experienced hands on board. The
_Drake_ was a strongly-built, well-found ship, and as the greater number
of the crew were experienced hands, and we had confidence in our
captain, we had every prospect of a satisfactory voyage. The crew are
not paid wages, but share in proportion to their rank or rating,
according to the undertaking. Provisions are, however, supplied them,
so that although a man may, as sometimes happens, make very little all
the time he is out, he cannot lose. Still, want of success falls very
heavily on the married men who have families to support.

The evening before we were to sail, one of the crew fell so sick that it
was evident he could not go the voyage; so the captain ordered the
second mate with several hands to take him ashore. Although not shipped
as an able seaman, he was a strong, active young man, and it was
necessary to supply his place. While some of the others carried the
sick man to the hospital, I remained in the boat at the quay. While I
was sitting, just looking up to watch what was taking place on shore, a
young man in a seaman's dress came down the slip and hailed me. By the
way he walked, and the look of his hands, I saw at a glance that he was
not a seaman.

"I say, mate," said he, in a sort of put-on manner, "I see that you've
just landed one of your people. Does your captain, think you, want
another man in his stead?"

"I suppose so," I answered, looking at him hard, to make out what he
was, though I didn't succeed. "But the mate will be down presently--
you'd better ask him. He may meantime have shipped another hand."

"I'll run the chance," he replied. "I'll go up and fetch my chest from
my lodging. Just tell him, if he comes down in the meantime, that a man
has volunteered to join. You can judge whether I'm likely to be fit for
work." He spoke in an off-hand, easy way, and without waiting for my
reply, he walked rapidly up from the quay.

The mate, directly after, came down without having found a man to his
taste. I told him that one had offered--a strongly-built,
active-looking, intelligent man, just cut out f