should like to have the opportunity of making him smart. But under
the present circumstances, with some hundreds of perfectly ruthless
wretches hovering around us, looking with longing eyes at the treasure
we had alongside, we could not help remembering the courage and resource
so often shown by the skipper, and wished with all our hearts that we
could have the benefit of them now. As soon as dinner was over, we all
"turned to" with a will to get the whale cut in. None of us required
to be told that to lay all night with that whale alongside would be
extremely unhealthy for us, great doubt existing as to whether any of
us would see morning dawn again. There was, too, just a possibility
that when the carcass, stripped of its blubber, was cut adrift, those
ravenous crowds would fasten upon it, and let us go in peace.

All hands, therefore, worked like Trojans. There was no need to drive
us, nor was a single harsh word spoken. Nothing was heard but the almost
incessant clatter of the windlass pawls, abrupt monosyllabic orders, and
the occasional melancholy wail of a gannet overhead. No word had been
spoken on the subject among us, yet somehow we all realized that we were
working for a large stake no less than our lives. What! says somebody,
within a few miles of Hong Kong? Oh yes; and even within Hong Kong
harbour itself, if opportunity offers. Let any man go down the wharf at
Hong Kong after sunset, and hail a sampan from the hundreds there that
are waiting to be hired. Hardly will the summons have left his lips
before a white policeman will be at his side, note-book in hand,
inquiring his name and ship, and taking a note of the sampan's number,
with the time of his leaving the wharf. Nothing perfunctory about the
job either. Let but these precautions be omitted, and the chances that
the passenger (if he have aught of value about him) will ever arrive at
his destination are almost nil.

So good was the progress made that by five p.m. we were busy at the
head, while the last few turns of the windlass were being taken to
complete the skinning of the body. With a long pent-up shout that last
piece was severed and swung inboard, as the huge mass of reeking flesh
floated slowly astern. As it drifted away we saw the patient watchers
who had been waiting converging upon it from all quarters, and our hopes
rose high. But there was no slackening of our efforts to get in the
head. By the time it was dark we managed to get the junk