hout danger. The slippery
epidermis of the huge leviathan,--lubricated as it was with that
unctuous fluid which the skin of the sperm-whale is known to secrete,--
rendered footing upon it extremely insecure.

It might be fancied no great matter for a swimmer like Ben Braco to
slide off: since a fall of a few feet into the water could not cause him
any great bodily hurt. But when the individual forming this fancy has
been told that there was something like a score of sharks prowling
around the carcass, he will obtain a more definite idea of the danger to
which such a fall would have submitted the adventurous seaman.

Ben Brace was the last man to be cowed by a trifling danger, or even one
of magnitude; and partly by Snowball's assistance, and using the
pectoral flipper to which the raft was attached as a stirrup, he
succeeded in mounting upon the back of the defunct monster of the deep.

As soon as he had steadied himself in his new position, a piece of rope
was thrown up to him,--by which Snowball was himself hoisted to the
shoulders of the _cachalot_; and then the two seamen proceeded towards
the tail,--or, as the sailor pronounced it, the "starn" of this peculiar
craft.

A little aft of "midships" a pyramidal lump of fatty substance projected
several feet above the line of the vertebras. It was the spurious or
rudimentary dorsal fin, with which the sperm-whale is provided.

On arriving at this protuberance,--which chanced to be the highest point
on the carcass where the flag was elevated on its slender shaft,--both
came to a halt; and there stood together, gazing around them over the
glittering surface of the sunlit sea.

CHAPTER FIFTY NINE.

ABOARD THE BODY OF A WHALE.

The object of their united reconnoissance was the same which, but a few
moments before, had occupied the attention of the sailor. They were
standing on the dead body of a whale that had been killed by harpoons.
Where were the people who had harpooned it?

After scanning the horizon with the same careful scrutiny as before, the
sailor once more turned his attention to the huge leviathan, on whose
back they were borne.

Several objects not before seen now attracted the attention of himself
and companion. The tall flag, known among whalers by the name of
"whift," was not the only evidence of the manner in which the _cachalot_
had met its death. Two large harpoons were seen sticking out of its
side, their iron arrows buried up to the