hull down. Our whale was beginning to swell rapidly, already
floating at least three feet above the surface instead of just awash,
as when newly killed. The skipper eyed it gloomily, seeing the near
prospect of its entire loss, but he said nothing. In fact, very little
was said; but the stories we had heard in the Bay of Islands came
back to us with significant force now that their justification was so
apparent.

Hour after hour went by without any change whatever, except in the
whale, which, like some gradually filling balloon, rose higher and
higher, till at nightfall its bulk was appalling. All through the night
those on deck did little else but stare at its increasing size, which
when morning dawned again, was so great that the animal's bilge rode
level with the ship's rail, while in her lee rolls it towered above
the deck like a mountain. The final scene with it was now a question
of minutes only, so most of us, fascinated by the strange spectacle,
watched and waited. Suddenly, with a roar like the bursting of a dam,
the pent-up gases tore their furious way out of the distended carcass,
hurling the entrails in one horrible entanglement widespread over
the sea. It was well for us that it was to leeward and a strong gale
howling; for even then the unutterable foetor wrought its poisonous way
back through that fierce, pure blast, permeating every nook of the ship
with its filthy vapour till the stoutest stomach there protested in
unmistakable terms against such vile treatment. Knowing too well that
the blubber was now worthless, the skipper gave orders to cut the
corrupt mass adrift. This was speedily effected by a few strokes of
a spade through the small. Away went eight hundred pounds' worth of
oil--another sacrifice to the exigencies of the Solander, such as had
gained for it so evil a reputation.

Doubtless a similar experience had befallen all the other ships, so that
the aggregate loss must have run into thousands of pounds, every penny
of which might have been saved had steam been available.

That gale lasted, with a few short lulls, for five days longer. When at
last it took off, and was succeeded by fine weather, we were so far
to the southward that we might have fetched the Aucklands in another
twenty-four hours. But, to our great relief, a strong southerly breeze
set in, before which, under every rag of canvas, we sped north again.

Steady and reliable as ever, that good south wind carried us back to
o