re
content with lye, which was furnished in plenty by the ashes from the
galley fire, where nothing but wood was used as fuel. Of course when
rain fell we might have a good wash, if it was night and no other work
was toward; but we were not allowed to store any for washing purposes.
Another curious but absolutely necessary custom prevailed in consequence
of the short commons under which we lived. When the portion of meat
was brought down in its wooden kid, or tub, at dinner-time, it was duly
divided as fairly as possible into as many parts as there were mouths.
Then one man turned his back on the carver, who holding up each portion,
called out, "Who's this for?" Whatever name was mentioned by the
arbitrator, that man owning it received the piece, and had perforce to
be satisfied therewith. Thus justice was done to all in the only way
possible, and without any friction whatever.

As some of us were without clothes except what we stood upright in, when
we joined, the "slop chest" was opened, and every applicant received
from the steward what Captain Slocum thought fit to let him have, being
debited with the cost against such wages as he might afterwards earn.
The clothes were certainly of fairly good quality, if the price was
high, and exactly suited to our requirements. Soap, matches, and tobacco
were likewise supplied on the same terms, but at higher prices than
I had ever heard of before for these necessaries. After much careful
inquiry I ascertained what, in the event of a successful voyage, we were
likely to earn. Each of us were on the two hundredth "lay" or share
at $200 per tun, which meant that for every two hundred barrels of oil
taken on board, we were entitled to one, which we must sell to the ship
at the rate of L40 per tun or L4 per barrel. Truly a magnificent outlook
for young men bound to such a business for three or four years.

CHAPTER V. ACTUAL WARFARE. OUR FIRST WHALE

Simultaneous ideas occurring to several people, or thought transference,
whatever one likes to call the phenomenon is too frequent an occurrence
in most of our experience to occasion much surprise. Yet on the occasion
to which I am about to refer, the matter was so very marked that few of
us who took part in the day's proceedings are ever likely to forget it.

We were all gathered about the fo'lk'sle scuttle one evening, a few days
after the gale referred to in the previous chapter, and the question of
whale-fishing came up fo