of the way the men treated us, rough as
some of them were. The doctor and Mr Griffiths always behaved kindly,
but the captain took no further notice of us, except when he ordered Jim
or me to do something. To my surprise, I found that the ship was the
_Intrepid_--the very one my father and I had put Mr Griffiths and the
doctor on board so many years before. She was then quite a new ship,
and, being strongly-built, she was as sound as ever. I have spoken of
her as a ship, but she was barque-rigged, as almost all whalers are,
barques being more easily handled than ship-rigged craft. The
_Intrepid_ was upwards of three hundred tons burden, with a crew of
thirty hands all told, and stored, I found, for a cruise of two years or
more. She carried six whale-boats, and materials for building others
should any of them be lost. There were three mates, a carpenter and
cooper and their mates; an armourer, a steward, and cook; four
boat-steerers, four able seamen, six ordinary seamen, the doctor, two
apprentices, Jim, and me.

I had never before been on board a whaler, and as I listened to the long
yarns of the men describing their hairbreadth escapes and the exciting
chases after the monsters of the deep, I felt, had I not had such cogent
reasons for returning home, that I would very gladly have gone out to
the South Seas to witness with my own eyes the scenes the men spoke of.
Still I longed as much as ever to get back to England.

Jim and I made it out pretty well with the two apprentices. Horner was
inclined to look down upon Jim for his want of education. Esdale
treated us both alike with gentleness and consideration, and offered to
teach Jim to read and write if he wished to learn. It had never
occurred to me to try and do so. Indeed, although we had been so much
together, I had not had many opportunities.

The second night we were on board I was awakened by feeling some hairy
creature nestling by my side. I sung out, not a little frightened.

"What's up?" cried Horner, who had just come below to rouse Jim and me
out to keep our watch.

"A great big brute of some sort has come into my bunk; I wonder it
hasn't bitten me," I answered.

"Why, I've got another here!" exclaimed Jim, who just then awoke. "What
in the world is it?"

Horner laughed loudly.

"Why, they're our ferrets," he answered. "Didn't you see them before?"

"No, and I never wish to see them again," answered Jim, as he flung the
creature d