urse. At any rate, we had not entered the straits, but
were cruising between Car Nicobar and Junkseylon, when we "met up" with
a full-grown cachalot, as ugly a customer as one could wish. From nine
a.m. till dusk the battle raged--for I have often noticed that unless
you kill your whale pretty soon, he gets so wary, as well as fierce,
that you stand a gaudy chance of being worn down yourselves before you
settle accounts with your adversary. This affair certainly looked at one
time as if such would be the case with us; but along about five p.m.,
to our great joy, we got him killed. The ejected food was in masses of
enormous size, larger than any we had yet seen on the voyage, some of
them being estimated to be of the size of our hatch-house, viz. 8 feet x
6 feet x 6 feet. The whale having been secured alongside, all hands were
sent below, as they were worn out with the day's work. The third mate
being ill, I had been invested with the questionable honour of standing
his watch, on account of my sea experience and growing favour with the
chief. Very bitterly did I resent the privilege at the time, I remember,
being so tired and sleepy that I knew not how to keep awake. I did
not imagine that anything would happen to make me prize that night's
experience for the rest of my life, or I should have taken matters with
a far better grace.

At about eleven p.m. I was leaning over the lee rail, grazing steadily
at the bright surface of the sea, where the intense radiance of the
tropical moon made a broad path like a pavement of burnished silver.
Eyes that saw not, mind only confusedly conscious of my surroundings,
were mine; but suddenly I started to my feet with an exclamation, and
stared with all my might at the strangest sight I ever saw. There was
a violent commotion in the sea right where the moon's rays were
concentrated, so great that, remembering our position, I was at first
inclined to alarm all hands; for I had often heard of volcanic islands
suddenly lifting their heads from the depths below, or disappearing in
a moment, and, with Sumatra's chain of active volcanoes so near, I felt
doubtful indeed of what was now happening. Getting the night-glasses
out of the cabin scuttle, where they were always hung in readiness,
I focussed them on the troubled spot, perfectly satisfied by a short
examination that neither volcano nor earthquake had anything to do with
what was going on; yet so vast were the forces engaged that I might