RESCUE.

The scenes in a whaleman's life are varied and very stirring. Sometimes
he is floating on the calm ocean, idling about the deck and whistling
for a breeze, when all of a sudden the loud cry is heard, "There she
blows!" and in a moment the boats are in the water, and he is engaged in
all the toils of an exciting chase. Then comes the battle with the
great leviathan of the deep, with all its risks and dangers. Sometimes
he is unfortunate, the decks are clean, he has nothing to do. At other
times he is lucky, "cutting-in" and "trying out" engage all his energies
and attention. Frequently storms toss him on the angry deep, and show
him, if he will but learn the lesson, how helpless a creature he is, and
how thoroughly dependent at all times for life, safety, and success,
upon the arm of God.

"Trying out" the oil, although not so thrilling a scene as many a one in
his career, is, nevertheless, extremely interesting, especially at
night, when the glare of the fires in the try-works casts a deep red
glow on the faces of the men, on the masts and sails, and even out upon
the sea.

The try-works consisted of two huge melting-pots fixed upon brick-work
fireplaces between the fore and main masts. While some of the men were
down in the blubber-room cutting the "blanket-pieces," as the largest
masses are called, others were pitching the smaller pieces on deck,
where they were seized by two men who stood near a block of wood, called
a "horse," with a mincing knife, to slash the junks so as to make them
melt easily. These were then thrown into the melting-pots by one of the
mates, who kept feeding the fires with such "scraps" of blubber as
remain after the oil is taken out. Once the fires were fairly set
agoing no other kind of fuel was required than "scraps" of blubber. As
the boiling oil rose it was baled into copper cooling-tanks. It was the
duty of two other men to dip it out of these tanks into casks, which
were then headed up by our cooper, and stowed away in the hold.

As the night advanced the fires became redder and brighter by contrast,
the light shone and glittered on the decks, and, as we plied our dirty
work, I could not help thinking, "what _would_ my mother say, if she
could get a peep at me now?"

The ship's crew worked and slept by watches, for the fires were not
allowed to go out all night. About midnight I sat down on the windlass
to take a short rest, and began talking to one of the men,