ive us a couple of hours' rest. As soon as the sun had set we were all
turned to again, three cressets were prepared, and by their blaze we
toiled the whole night through. Truth compels me to state, though, that
none of us foremast hands had nearly such heavy work as the officers on
the stage. What they had to do demanded special knowledge and skill; but
it was also terribly hard work, constant and unremitting, while we at
the windlass had many a short spell between the lifting of the pieces.
Even the skipper took a hand, for the first time, and right manfully did
he do his share.

By the first streak of dawn, three of the whales had been stripped of
their blubber, and five heads were bobbing astern at the ends of as many
hawsers. The sea all round presented a wonderful sight. There must have
been thousands of sharks gathered to the feast, and their incessant
incursions through the phosphorescent water wove a dazzling network of
brilliant tracks which made the eyes ache to look upon. A short halt was
called for breakfast, which was greatly needed, and, thanks to the cook,
was a thoroughly good one. He--blessings on him!--had been busy fishing,
as we drifted slowly, with savoury pieces of whale-beef for bait, and
the result was a mess of fish which would have gladdened the heart of an
epicure. Our hunger appeased, it was "turn to" again, for there was now
no time to be lost. The fierce heat soon acts upon the carcass of a
dead whale, generating an immense volume of gas within it, which, in a
wonderfully short space of time, turns the flesh putrid and renders the
blubber so rotten that it cannot be lifted, nor, if it could, would it
be of any value. So it was no wonder that our haste was great, or that
the august arbiter of our destinies himself condescended to take his
place among the toilers. By nightfall the whole of our catch was on
board, excepting such toll as the hungry hordes of sharks had levied
upon it in transit. A goodly number of them had paid the penalty of
their rapacity with their lives, for often one would wriggle his way
right up on to the reeking carcass, and, seizing a huge fragment of
blubber, strive with might and main to tear it away. Then the lethal
spade would drop upon his soft crown, cleaving it to the jaws, and with
one flap of his big tail he would loose his grip, roll over and over,
and sink, surrounded by a writhing crowd of his fellows, by whom he was
speedily reduced into digestible fragmen