out to her field of duty. Before she was fairly clear of
the harbour, though, there came a "snifter" from the hills that caught
her unprepared, making her reel again, and giving us a desperate few
minutes to scramble on board and hoist our boats up. As we drew out from
the land, we found that a moderate gale was blowing, but the sky was
clear, fathomless blue, the sun rose kindly, a heavenly dream of soft
delicate colour preceding him; so that, in spite of the strong breeze,
all looked promising for a good campaign. At first no sign could be seen
of any of the other ships, though we looked long and eagerly for them.
At last we saw them, four in all, nearly hull down to seaward, but
evidently coming in under press of sail. So slow, however, was their
approach that we had made one "leg" across the ground and halfway back
before they were near enough for us to descry the reason of their want
of speed. They had each got a whale alongside, and were carrying every
rag of canvas they could spread, in order to get in with their prizes.

Our old acquaintance, the CHANCE, was there, the three others being her
former competitors, except those who were disabled, still lying in Port
William. Slowly, painfully they laboured along, until well within the
mouth of the Straits, when, without any warning, the wind which had been
bringing them in suddenly flew round into the northward, putting them
at once in a most perilous position. Too far within the Straits to "up
helm" and run for it out to sea; not far enough to get anywhere that an
anchor might hold; and there to leeward, within less than a dozen miles,
loomed grim and gloomy one of the most terrific rock-bound coasts in the
world. The shift of wind had placed the CHANCE farther to leeward than
all the rest, a good mile and a half nearer the shore; and we could well
imagine how anxiously her movements were being watched by the others,
who, in spite of their jealousy of his good luck, knew well and
appreciated fully Paddy's marvellous seamanship, as well as his
unparalleled knowledge of the coast.

Having no whale to hamper our movements, besides being well to windward
of them all, we were perfectly comfortable as long as we kept to seaward
of a certain line and the gale was not too fierce, so for the present
all our attention was concentrated upon the labouring ships to leeward.
The intervention of the land to windward kept the sea from rising to
the awful height it attains under th