forecastle,
and they took their places among us quite naturally, being fairly well
used to a whale-ship.

CHAPTER XVIII. ON THE "LINE" GROUNDS

We weighed at last, one morning, with a beautiful breeze, and, bidding
a long farewell to the lovely isles and their amiable inhabitants, stood
at sea, bound for the "line" or equatorial grounds on our legitimate
business of sperm whaling. It was now a long while since we had been in
contact with a cachalot, the last one having been killed by us on the
Coast of Japan some six months before. But we all looked forward to the
coming campaign with considerable joy, for we were now a happy family,
interested in the work, and, best of all, even if the time was still
distant, we were, in a sense, homeward bound. At any rate, we all chose
so to think, from the circumstance that we were now working to the
southward, towards Cape Horn, the rounding of which dreaded point would
mark the final stage of our globe-encircling voyage.

We had, during our stay at Honolulu, obtained a couple of grand boats in
addition to our stock, and were now in a position to man and lower five
at once, if occasion should arise, still leaving sufficient crew on
board to work the vessel. The captain had also engaged an elderly seaman
of his acquaintance--out of pure philanthropy, as we all thought,
since he was in a state of semi-starvation ashore--to act as a kind of
sailing-master, so as to relieve the captain of ship duty at whaling
time, allowing him still to head his boat. This was not altogether
welcome news to me, for, much as I liked the old man and admired his
pluck, I could not help dreading his utter recklessness when on a
whale, which had so often led to a smash-up that might have been easily
avoided. Moreover, I reasoned that if he had been foolhardy before, he
was likely to be much more so now, having no superior to look black
or use language when a disaster occurred. For now I was his harpooner,
bound to take as many risks as he chose to incur, and anxious also
to earn a reputation among the more seasoned whalemen for smartness
sufficient to justify my promotion.

The Kanakas shipped at Honolulu were distributed among the boats, two
to each, being already trained whalemen, and a fine lot of fellows they
were. My two--Samuela and Polly--were not very big men, but sturdy,
nimble as cats, as much at home in the water as on deck, and simply
bubbling over with fun and good-humour. From my