d only
witnessed from a distance. How to manage it was the difficulty. He
knew that it would be of no use asking leave from the captain, or any of
the boat-steerers, for idlers were not allowed in the boats. He had
thought that he should at once engage in all the adventures described by
Max, and was one day expressing his disappointment in his presence.

"They will come time enough," observed Max. "But if you have a fancy to
see some sport, and may be to get tossed in the air, or drowned, or have
to spend a night on a floe, and be well nigh frozen, as I have more than
once, I'll give you a chance. You know that I am your friend, or I
would not do it. Now, the next time a fall is called, do you tumble
into my boat; I'll rail away if old Andrew sees you, but pretend you
have hurt your leg and lie still, and depend upon it he will be in too
great a hurry to shove off to put you on board again, and as the captain
did not punish you for hiding away, he will not say much to you on that
account."

Archy knew very well that he ought to have suspected Max's advice, but
he was so eager to see a whale struck, that he forgot all other
considerations. Hoping therefore that he might soon have the
opportunity he desired, he turned into his bunk with his clothes on,
ready to slip into the boat at a moment's notice. The ship was standing
some distance off the land, and though the sea was generally open, here
and there masses of ice were to be seen floating about from enormous
icebergs down to small pieces of a few feet in diameter. Archy hoped
that before long the boats would be lowered to go in chase of a whale.
He tried to keep awake, but sleep soon overpowered him. He was aroused
by hearing the sound of stamping overhead, and the looked for cry of "a
fall, a fall." He sprang on deck, and without waiting to see whether he
was observed, slipped into old Andrew's boat, in which Max pulled one of
the oars, and throwing himself down in the bottom, remained perfectly
still. The rest of the crew followed. Old Andrew was the last, having
been detained longer than usual. The boat shoved off, and only then Max
pretended to have discovered him. Andrew, on seeing the lad, was about
to put back, but at that moment the spout of another whale was observed
at no great distance. The crew, bending to their oars, pulled towards
it; and Andrew, in the excitement of the moment, forgot all about Archy.
The boat dashed on. A sucking whale