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The South Sea Whaler, a fiction by William H. G. Kingston |
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Chapter 7. On The Whale's Back... |
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_ CHAPTER SEVEN. ON THE WHALE'S BACK--SIGNS OF A WRECK--LIGHT A FIRE AND COOK BLUBBER--A NOVEL LAMP CONTRIVED--A SAIL IN SIGHT--DISAPPOINTMENT--NUB'S NARROW ESCAPE--THE WHALE ROLLS OVER--A FEARFUL PREDICAMENT--THE RAFT WITH WALTER SAILS AWAY
"I see some harpoons and spears sticking in the creature's back," exclaimed Walter. "They will be of use, if we cannot get anything else from it, as we shall be able to kill any dolphins or bonitoes which swim near us," said the mate. "I tink me get some slices of meat out of de back of de creature," said Nub. "We no want food now." "We shall find it rather high-flavoured and somewhat tough," observed the mate; "but it will keep body and soul together; and we must not be particular." Walter, though very hungry, felt no inclination to eat whale's blubber, especially if the creature had been dead for some time,--though he had heard that the Eskimos consider it dainty food, and eat it in vast quantities. Poor Alice, who had been unable to swallow the mixture of flying-fish and oil, shuddered at the thought. "I see a quantity of gear hanging about the creature's head," said Walter; "and that makes me suppose that it must have been fast to a ship. If so, it cannot be a fish my father has struck; and some other whaler besides ours must be in the neighbourhood." "I am of your mind," said the mate. "We shall know for certain, when we get alongside, by the harpoons. However, the idea gives me hope that we shall obtain assistance before long." The voyagers were gradually approaching the monster, which was certainly not a sperm whale, though it was of enormous size, floating far higher out of the water than does that creature. They therefore came to the conclusion that it was of a rare and hitherto unknown species. (Note 1.) A quantity of gear with some large floats hung about its head, while the harpoons sticking in it had their lines attached. The only way to account for this was, that the people who had attacked it had fancied that it was dead, and that it had suddenly revived and broken loose from them. The whale was soon reached, when the raft was made fast to a couple of the harpoon-lines which hung from its body. It was no easy matter to climb to the top of its back; but the mate, bidding Alice remain on the raft, hauled himself up by the lines which hung from it, Walter and Nub following his example. On reaching the top of the whale's back, the mate examined the flag. "This is an American piece of bunting," he exclaimed. "It shows without doubt that it was killed by the boats of one of their whalers. There are a good many of them in these seas at present, and they are not the fellows to abandon a fish they have once caught." "Dat is what I was tinking," observed Nub. "I don't tink any Englishman eber kill such a 'straordinary-looking fish as dis." "I have seen a good many, but never one like it," said the mate. "I only hope it good to eat; and de sooner me cut some blubber and cook it, de better. Mr Shobbrok, you got tinder-box and flint and steel?" "Yes," answered the mate, "I always carry them; though, as we cannot light a fire on the raft, I have hitherto made no use of them. But how do you propose lighting one on the top of the whale, Nub?" "We get up some pieces of wood from de raft, and den, with de blubber, we soon have one blazing fire," answered the black. Descending to the raft, he took one of the pieces of plank and began to chop it up. "We soon have some dinner for you, Missie Alice," he said while so employed. "You stay quiet on de raft, and not fancy you going to starve any more." Having performed his task, he secured the wood in a bundle, and hoisting it on his back, he climbed up again. During Nub's absence the mate and Walter looked anxiously around them, in the possibility of any boats being in sight. None were to be seen; but they observed several objects floating about, apparently pieces of wreck, spars and casks,--and among them a sea-chest, which seemed of large size, as it rose considerably above the surface. "We must try and get hold of that," said the mate. "It may contain articles of value to us, though I am afraid we are not likely to find any food within it." "I would rather have a cask of biscuits or flour, or beef or pork," observed Walter. "I doubt whether we shall find such," said the mate, "for I observe that the casks float high out of the water. But has it struck you, Walter, what must have happened?" "I was thinking that these things must have come out of our ship and floated away here," answered Walter. "They cannot have come so far by this time," said the mate. "I think that I can unravel the mystery. This whale was attacked by the boats of a ship, some of which were probably destroyed by the monster. It was then towed alongside, when she was either capsized in a storm, or, receiving damage from some other cause, she went down, and the articles we now see floated up out of her. Possibly she was struck by some large whale, and her bottom or sides stove in; such a thing has occurred before now. I remember some years ago a big whale off the coast of New Zealand which went by the name of New Zealand Tom. He was a monster, and capable of sending any ship to the bottom. I was in one of the boats of the _Adonis_ whaler when, in company with a dozen others, we went one morning to chase that very whale. Most of us got near enough to drive our harpoons into its body; but it made us pay dearly for our sport, for before breakfast it had knocked nine of our boats to pieces, and we were obliged to return to our respective ships. Some weeks passed before we again got sight of the creature; when, in company with several other boats, we again attacked it, and this time came off victorious. You will scarcely believe it, but we found eight harpoons in its body belonging to as many different ships, which had chased it at various times. Big as it was, there are others as big, and even fiercer. I remember meeting a man who had belonged to the American whaler _Essex_. All the boats but one were on one occasion away with the larger portion of the crew, leaving only the doctor and a few others on board, when they caught sight of an enormous sperm whale coming towards them, as if not seeing the ship; suddenly lifting its flukes up in the air, it sounded, throwing the water over the deck, when they felt a tremendous blow, as if the ship under full sail had struck a rock. The blow broke off some of the keel, which was seen floating up to the surface. The whale quickly rose again, and was observed at a short distance from the ship; when, what was the horror of those on board to see it come swimming directly at them with the greatest fury! It struck the bows a tremendous blow, staving them in. A cry arose that the ship was sinking; and so she was. The water was rushing into her like a mill-sluice; and the people had scarcely time to get into the remaining boat when she capsized, the casks in her hold for a time keeping her up. The people in the other boats, seeing their ship going down, pulled back and managed to get a small quantity of provisions; but before they had obtained as much as they required down she went, leaving the boats to find their way to land as best they could. They steered for the coast of Peru--the event happened on the other side of the Pacific--but only one boat, with three men in her at their last gasp, was picked up; they happily recovered, and were able to narrate what had happened. The rest of the poor fellows must have perished, as none of the other boats were ever afterwards heard of. Now, it's my opinion that something of the sort I have described has happened to the ship which had got hold of this whale; though what has become of her crew is more than I can tell." "I trust that our fate may not be that of the unfortunate crew of the _Essex_," said Walter. "I trust not, lad," answered the mate; "I shall be sorry I told you the story, if it affects your spirits. We shall do very well if we can get provisions,--and four people are more easily fed than forty,--so don't think about it. Here comes Nub with a bundle of wood, and we will see if we can light a fire and cook some blubber; but I wish we had some more delicate food for your dear young sister." Nub, who had brought the axe, having chopped off several pieces of skin from the fattest part of the whale's back, made a pile of the wood and placed the dry skin on the top of it. The mate then produced his flint and steel, and striking a light, set fire with a match to the bottom of the pile. "While de fire blazes up, I cut some nice pieces of blubber," said Nub; and setting to work, he soon produced several lumps, which he stuck at the end of some other sticks brought for the purpose. The oil which oozed up out of the whale's back made the flames rapidly blaze up. Each of the party then held the blubber--which sputtered and hissed more vehemently than the fattest of bacon in a cook's frying-pan--to the fire. The odour was certainly not pleasant, but Nub sniffed it up, exclaiming, as he bit off a piece, "Oh, dis bery fine; it soon make us quite strong and fat, and we go a week without eating anyting else." Walter did not feel quite satisfied on that point; however, he managed to get down a few mouthfuls. Having roasted a piece as nicely as he could, he hurried down with it to Alice. "If you think I ought to eat it, I will," she said; "but it does not smell nice." "I am afraid we are not likely to get anything else at present, and it's our duty to try and keep up our strength. It will, I hope, have that effect, though it may taste disagreeable at first." Alice, who was really ravenously hungry, overcame her repugnance to the unattractive food, and ate it up; taking at the same time, to help it down, a small piece of biscuit which had been reserved for her. Walter then climbed up again and joined the party on the whale's back. The skin and blubber affording ample fuel, they were able to keep up their fire and cook a considerable quantity of blubber; for to eat it raw in its present condition they felt would be impossible, but toasted in thin slices it would, they hoped, keep for some time. They tried several portions, and agreed that the most eatable were those on either side of the hump. As the chest and casks did not appear to be drifting away from the whale, they agreed that it was not necessary to put off expressly to get hold of them. Having cooked as much blubber as was likely to keep till it was consumed, they carried it down to the raft, where it was stowed away in the hen-coop, which was considered cooler than any other place. The mate proposed that while they were alongside the whale they should take the opportunity of more firmly securing the fresh part of the raft, as they had now a favourable opportunity for doing so. This took them some time, but they were well satisfied when the work was done. "And now, my lad, we must not go away, without the harpoons and spears, for I have hopes, by their means, of getting a good supply of food. We may catch bonitoes and other big fish with the harpoons; and with the spears we may strike any smaller ones which come within reach." "I have been thinking, Mr Shobbrok, that if we could manage a lamp, we might, on a calm evening, attract the fish to the side of the raft, as is often done, I have read, by savages, who then spear them; and the blubber will afford us oil for the purpose." "Bery bright idea, Massa Walter," exclaimed Nub. "De hole where we made de fire is full of oil, and me fill up two of de empty bottles with it; den, as we have no saucer for de lamp, suppose you take one of your shoes,--it will hold de oil for de purpose." "I will gladly give up both my shoes," said Walter. "So will I mine," exclaimed Alice; "if they are of any use." "We need not deprive you of yours, Miss Alice," said the mate; "I must insist rather on mine being taken. And for a wick, we have only to pick a rope to pieces and twist it up lightly." Nub, taking the two empty bottles, climbed up again on the whale's back. He found even more oil than he had expected, and filling the bottles, lowered them on the raft. He was about to descend, when he was seen looking eagerly out on the other side of the whale. "What is it?" asked the mate. "A sail! a sail!" he shouted, clapping his hands, and dancing frantically about at a great risk of slipping off into the water. The mate and Walter quickly climbed up, anxious to ascertain the truth of Nub's assertion. "Dere! dere!" he exclaimed. "To the south. Dere she comes! Missie Alice and Massa Walter soon be safe!" "That's not a ship," observed the mate. "If you look steadily, you will see that it's a long way on this side of the horizon, and but little raised above the water. It would not appear so distinct as it does if it was the topgallant-sail of a ship, hull down. That's the sail of a boat or a raft; and before long it will be near at hand." Alice eagerly inquired what they were looking at. Walter having told her what the mate said, could with difficulty persuade her to remain on the raft, so anxious was she to climb up to see the object in sight. The party on the whale's back stood watching the sail; but instead, however, of it coming directly towards them, as they had expected it would do, it was seen, when about a mile off, to be steering a course on which it would pass them scarcely nearer than it then was. Walter seized the flag out of the whale's back and waved it over his head, shouting at the top of his voice, as did the mate and Nub, to attract attention; but apparently they were not seen, and certainly could not have been heard. "It is more than I can make out, what they are about," observed Walter. "They must have caught sight of the whale, and whether that's a boat or a raft, it's surprising that they should not have come nearer to have a look at us. They seem to have a pretty stiff breeze out there, and it would not have taken them much out of their way." "I am sure that it is a raft," said the mate, "as, with the breeze they have got, and that large sail, a boat would move much faster through the water than they are doing. Depend on it, those are the _Champion's_ people, and they have got some reason for not wishing to communicate with us. I am pretty sure they fancy that this whale was killed by the captain, and that, not finding the ship, he returned to it. I may be wrong, but I think I am not much out in my calculations." "But suppose you are wrong, and my father is on board the raft, could not we shove off and overtake it?" "As it is almost dead to windward, we should not have the slightest chance of doing so; and see! they are still holding their course. If they had wished to communicate with us, they would have lowered their sail; and they must see the smoke of the fire, even should they not make out the flag,--though they could scarcely have failed to do that." "I tink I could swim much faster dan our raft could pull against de wind," said Nub; "supposing de captain on board, den I tell him dat Massa Walter and Missie Alice on de whale, and he sure to come." "You had better not make the attempt, Nub," said the mate. "You will have a long swim before you can reach the raft; and if you fail to do so, you will be exhausted before you can possibly get back." "Neber fear, Mr Shobbrok," he answered. "If I get tired I can rest on one of dose casks, or perhaps I find some spar or piece of timber which keep me up;" and before the mate or Walter could stop him, Nub had slipped off into the sea on the opposite side to that to which the raft was secured, so that Alice did not see him. Nub struck out boldly, and made rapid way. The mate and Walter stood watching him. "That black is indeed a first-rate swimmer," observed the mate. "Heaven protect the brave fellow." Nub, however, had not got more than two or three cable's lengths from the whale when he was seen to turn, while he furiously beat the water with his hands and feet, at the same time shouting out loudly. "Oh, what are those black-looking things moving about on either side of him?" exclaimed Walter. "Those are sharks' fins," answered the mate. "He must have caught sight of them; and he knows well that, should he get tired, they will attack him." "O poor Nub! poor Nub! Can he escape them?" exclaimed Walter, wringing his hands and looking the picture of despair. "O Mr Shobbrok, can we do nothing to save him?" "We can only shout and try to frighten the sharks, as Nub is doing," answered the mate. "Oh, I will do that," cried Walter; and he began to shriek and jump frantically about in a way which made the mate begin to feel anxious on his account: still Mr Shobbrok himself shouted at the top of his voice, and then bethought him of cutting pieces of blubber and throwing them as far away as possible, in order to attract the savage creatures and to draw their attention off from the black. The plan seemed to succeed, and several of them were seen to dash forward and spring out of the water to catch the blubber before it reached the surface. Nub, meanwhile, was making rapid way towards the side of the whale. "Now, Walter," said the mate, "do as I have been doing, while I get a harpoon-line ready to haul the black out of the water; but take care, my dear boy, that you don't slip off." Walter did as the mate told him, still continuing to shriek out as loudly as before. Bending the end of one of the lines to the centre of a spear, Mr Shobbrok let it drop into the water, where it floated; while he stood by to haul up Nub as soon as he caught hold of it. Walter continued in the meantime cutting off pieces of blubber and throwing them towards the head of the whale, and as long as he did so the sharks remained on the watch for the delicious morsels. At length Nub reached the spear, and grasping hold of it, endeavoured to haul himself up; but he was evidently greatly exhausted by his rapid swim, and the dread he had experienced of being seized by one of the monsters swarming around. The mate, who had begun to haul him in, called Walter to his assistance. They had got the black half out of the water, when they saw several of the dark fins gliding towards him. How poor Walter shouted and shrieked!--while he and the mate hauled away with all their might, every instant dreading to see the savage creatures tear at Nub's legs. With all their strength they hauled away, when, just as Nub's feet were clear of the water, two enormous sharks rose with open mouths above the surface to seize him. Happily they were disappointed, for the creatures in their eagerness rushing against each other, missed their aim, their heads nearly touching the soles of his feet--which, as may be supposed, he quickly drew up; while the mate and Walter, hauling away, got him fairly up to the top of the whale's back. As soon as he was safe, Walter threw his arm around him, exclaiming, "Have the creatures bitten you, Nub? Have you really escaped them? oh, why did you go--oh, why did you go?" "Yes, Massa Walter, I quite safe, neber fear," answered Nub, panting for breath. "Dey no hurt me, though dey would have liked to eat me up as they did the blubber which you and de mate threw to dem; no doubt about dat." "I am thankful that you have got back safe, Nub," said the mate. "It was a bold attempt, but it would have been a vain one; for I am as sure as I stand here that the captain is not on board the raft out there." "Oh, where can my father have gone, then?" exclaimed Walter, who was still in a state of unusual excitement, into which, weakened as he was by famine, the alarm he had just experienced had thrown him. "Your father is in his boat, be assured of that, Walter," answered the mate calmly; "and now, the sooner you go on the raft and join your sister the better." Still Walter did not go, but again seizing the flag, kept waving it; but the raft glided on, moved by the strong wind, which now reached the part of the ocean on which the whale floated. The mate himself could not help standing to watch it, but it rapidly got farther and farther off. At last, taking Walter's arm, he said, "Come, we must waste no more time here; Nub and I will help you down to the raft." Walter made no resistance, but allowed himself to be lowered down, the mate and Nub following him. Alice threw her arms around his neck when she saw him, exclaiming,--"What has all that noise been about? I have been so frightened. Why did you not come and tell me?" The mate briefly explained what had happened; while Walter, with apparent calmness, added a few remarks; and, soothed by his sister's voice, he soon appeared to recover, and Mr Shobbrok had no apprehensions about him. The mate told him to lie down and rest, which he at once did. The raft being on the lee side of the whale, he and Nub then hoisted the sail. "Oh, Massa Shobbrok, we have forgotten de harpoons!" exclaimed Nub. "So we have," answered the mate. "In my anxiety about Walter I forgot them." "Den I go up and get dem," said Nub; and he again climbed up the side of the whale. He had lowered down a couple of harpoons and three spears, when the mate, who had in the meantime cast off the lines which had secured the raft to the whale, in his anxiety to lose no time, sprang up to pull out another spear which had been fixed nearer the tail; Alice, who was standing near him, taking hold of the line still attached to it. At that moment, from some unknown cause, the monster body began to move, and before either the mate or Nub could descend, over it rolled; while Alice, in her terror still holding on to the line, was lifted from her feet and dragged into the water. The sail, no longer under the lee of the huge carcass, filled, and away glided the raft, leaving the poor little girl, with the mate and Nub at some distance from her, struggling in the water. ------------- Note 1. The author confesses that he has had some difficulty in understanding the descriptions in the old journal from which the tale is taken. From its evident truthfulness and general accuracy, he would not feel justified in altering them. But the illustration beats him, and sets at defiance all the accounts in his books of natural history. He must therefore leave his readers to judge for themselves. _ |
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