for this unusual
concourse of the tyrants of the deep. Not that they had any intention
of directing their attack upon it: for, from the peculiar conformation
of his mouth, the shark is incapable of feeding upon the carcass of a
large whale. But having, no doubt, accompanied the chase at the time
the _cachalot_ had been harpooned, they were now staying by a dead body,
from an instinct that told them its destroyers would return, and supply
them with its flesh in convenient morsels,--while occupied in _flensing_
it.

"Ugh!" exclaimed the sailor; "they look hungry enough to bite at any
bait we may throw out to them. We won't have much trouble in catchin'
as many o' 'em as we want."

"A doan b'lieve, Massa Brace, we hab got nebba such a ting as a
shark-hook 'board de _Cat'maran_."

"Don't make yourself uneasy 'bout that," rejoined the sailor, in a
confident tone. "Shark-hook be blowed! I see somethin' up yonder worth
a score o' shark-hooks. The brutes be as tame as turtles turned on
their backs. They're always so about a dead spermacety. Wi' one o'
them ere tools as be stickin' in the side o' the old bull, if I don't
pull a few o' them out o' water, I never handled a harpoon, that's all.
Ye may stop your cookin' Snowy, an' go help me. When we've got a few
sharks catched an' cut up, then you can go at it again on a more
'stensive scale. Come along, my hearty!"

As Ben terminated his speech, he strode across the deck of the raft, and
commenced clambering up on the carcass.

Snowball, who perceived the wisdom of his old comrade's design, let go
the flake of fish he had been holding in the blaze; and, parting from
the pot, once more followed the sailor up the steep side of the
_cachalot_.

CHAPTER SIXTY TWO.

A DANGEROUS EQUILIBRIUM.

Ben had taken along with him the axe; and, proceeding towards one of the
harpoons,--still buried in the body of the whale,--he commenced cutting
it out.

In a few moments a deep cavity was hewn out around the shank of the
harpoon; which was further deepened, until the barbed blade was wellnigh
laid bare. Snowball, impatiently seizing the stout wooden shaft, gave
it a herculean pluck, that completely detached the arrow from the soft
blubber in which it had been imbedded.

Unfortunately for Snowball, he had not well calculated the strength
required for clearing that harpoon. Having already made several
fruitless attempts to extract it, he did not expect it to draw out so