elds at home, until we
almost fancied we were boys again; and some could not tell stories at
all. They had little to say, and that little they said ill; and I
noticed that many of those who were perfect bores would cry loudest to
be heard, though none of us wanted to hear them. We used to quench such
fellows by calling loudly for a song with a rousing chorus.

It was not till the night was far spent, and the silver moon was sailing
through the starry sky, that the Yankees left us, and rowed away with a
parting cheer.

CHAPTER TEN.

RETURN HOME.

Six months after our "gam" with the Yankees Tom Lokins and I found
ourselves seated once more in the little garret beside my dear old
mother.

"Deary me, Robert, how changed ye are!"

"Changed, mother! I should think so! If you'd gone through all that
I've done and seen since we last sat together in this room you'd be
changed too."

"And have ye really seen the whales, my boy?" continued my mother,
stroking my face with her old hand.

"Seen them? ay, and killed them too--many of them."

"You've been in danger, my son," said my mother earnestly, "but God has
preserved you safe through it all."

"Ay, mother, He has preserved my life in the midst of many dangers,"
said I, "for which I am most thankful."

There was a short silence after this, during which my mother and I gazed
earnestly at each other, and Tom Lokins smoked his pipe and stared at
the fire.

"Robert, how big is a whale?" inquired my mother suddenly.

"How big? why, it's as big as a small ship, only it's longer, and not
quite so fat."

"Robert," replied my mother gravely, "ye didn't used to tell untruths;
ye must be jokin'."

"Joking, mother, I was never more in earnest in my life. Why, I tell
you that I've seen, ay, and helped to cut up, whales that were more than
sixty feet long, with heads so big that their mouths could have taken in
a boat. Why, mother, I declare to you that you could put this room into
a whale's mouth, and you and Tom and I could sit round this table and
take our tea upon his tongue quite comfortable. Isn't that true, Tom?"

My mother looked at Tom, who removed his pipe, puffed a cloud of smoke,
and nodded his head twice very decidedly.

"Moreover," said I, "a whale is so big and strong, that it can knock a
boat right up into the air, and break in the sides of a ship. One day a
whale fell right on top of one of our boats, and smashed it all to bits.
Now that's a