least two of them. But that was not to be our luck that day. The first
mate got fast to one big fellow, and killed him, but the rest of us
returned to the ship empty-handed.

"Now I haven't told you anything about what's done with a whale after
you get him; but as this story depends on that, I'll have to explain.
The first job is to get the whale alongside the ship."

"Why not sail the ship alongside the whale?" asked one of the listeners.

"That ain't wholly practicable," answered Handsome, "because you might
run into him and sink him. The ship does sail as close as she dares, but
the boats must do their share. Two boats take the ends of a light line,
with a weight slung on the bight so as to sink it, and they pass this
under the whale's tail and around his 'small,' as the slimmest part of
him is called. By means of this line, the ends being passed aboard the
ship, a chain is run in a slip-noose around the 'small,' and Mr. Whale
is hauled alongside and kept there. Next comes the business of
cutting-in, which means cutting off the blubber and bone that are
wanted. Stages, such as ships' painters use, are slung over the side of
the vessel, and the first-class cutters, generally the ship's officers,
stand on these stages with long-handled spades. The cutting-in begins at
the place where the backbone joins the head, and the first strip taken
off there is called the blanket piece. The pieces of blubber are hauled
up with tackles, and these rip them off while the spades cut. It's a
long and tough job, and it makes a new hand pretty sick. But it's
child's play to what comes next, which is the trying-out. Say, I'd
rather be a green hand again than have another job at trying-out."

"Well, tell us about it, anyhow," said Farmer Joe.

"It ain't any use to make a long yarn of that," continued Handsome. "The
try-works, as they call them, are a sort of Dutch oven, built of bricks,
and situated amidships. A couple of big iron pots stand on top of the
oven, and the blubber, minced up, is put into them. You start a fire in
the oven, and that boils out the oil, which is ladled out into casks,
and then all hands turn to and pick out the pieces of fat and scraps so
as to have nothing put pure oil. Well, to heave ahead with the yarn, we
had our whale alongside overnight, and the next morning we started at
cutting-in. About the time we'd got ready for trying-out, and started
the fires, the breeze began to freshen up, and it looked rath