e people worked like giants to tow
the other two in. Considering the weakness of their forces, they made
marvellous progress; but seeing how terribly exhausting the toil was,
one could not help wishing them one of the small London tugs, familiarly
known as "jackals," which would have snaked those monsters along at
three or four knots an hour.

However, all went well; the usual gale did blow but not till we had
got the last piece aboard and a good "slant" to run in, arriving at our
previous moorings at midnight. In the morning the skipper went down in
his boat to visit the stations, and see how they had fared. Old hand as
he was, I think he was astonished to see what progress those fellows had
made with the fish. They did not reach the stations till after midnight,
but already they had the whales half flenched, and, by the way they were
working, it looked as if they would be through with their task as soon
as we were with ours. Their agreement with the skipper was to yield us
half the oil they made, and, if agreeable to them, we would take their
moiety at L40 per tun. Consequently they had something to work for, even
though there were twenty of them to share the spoil. They were a
merry party, eminently good tempered, and working as though one spirit
animated them all. If there was a leader of the band, he did his office
with great subtilty, for all seemed equal, nor did any appear to need
directing what to do. Fired by their example, we all worked our hardest;
but they beat us by half a day, mainly, I think, by dint of working
nearly all the time with scarce any interval for sleep. True, they were
bound to take advantage of low water when their huge prize was high and
dry--to get at him easily all round. Their method was of the simplest.
With gaff-hooks to haul back the pieces, and short-handled spades for
cutting, they worked in pairs, taking off square slabs of blubber about
a hundredweight each. As soon as a piece was cut off, the pair tackled
on to it, dragging it up to the pots, where the cooks hastily sliced it
for boiling, interspersing their labours with attention to the simmering
cauldrons.

Their efforts realized twenty-four tuns of clear oil and spermaceti,
of which, according to bargain, we took twelve, the captain buying the
other twelve for L480, as previously arranged. This latter portion,
however, was his private venture, and not on ship's account, as he
proposed selling it at the Bluff, when we should