ide indeed.

"But, I say, how much is that?" inquired Tom Lokins.

"Ah! that's just what I said to the young doctor, and he said to me,
`I'll tell you what, Fred Borders, no man alive understands how much
that is, and what's more, no man ever will; but I'll give you _some
notion_ of what it means;' and so he told me how long it would take
forty thousand men to count that number of eleven quadrillions, nine
hundred and ninety-nine trillions, each man of the forty thousand
beginning `one,' `two,' `three,' and going on till the sum of the whole
added together would make it up. Now, how long d'ye think it would take
them?--guess."

Fred Borders smiled as he said this, and looked round the circle of men.

"I know," cried one, "it would take the whole forty thousand a _week_ to
do it."

"Oh! nonsense, they could do it easy in two days," said another.

"That shows how little you know about big numbers," observed Tom Lokins,
knocking the ashes out of his pipe. "I'm pretty sure it couldn't be
done in much less than six months; workin' hard all day, and makin'
allowance for only one hour off for dinner."

"You're all wrong, shipmates," said Fred Borders. "That young doctor
told me that if they'd begun work at the day of creation they would only
have just finished the job last year!"

"Oh! gammon, you're jokin'," cried Bill Blunt.

"No, I'm not," said Fred, "for I was told afterwards by an old clergyman
that the young doctor was quite right, and that any one who was good at
'rithmetic could work the thing out for himself in less than
half-an-hour."

Just as Fred said this there came a loud cry from the mast-head that
made us all spring to our feet like lightning.

"There she blows! There she breaches!"

The captain was on deck in a moment.

"Where away?" he cried.

"On the lee beam, sir. Sperm whale, about two miles off. There she
blows!"

Every man was at his station in a moment; for, after being some months
out, we became so used to the work, that we acted together like a piece
of machinery. But our excitement never abated in the least.

"Sing out when the ship heads for her."

"Ay, ay, sir."

"Keep her away!" said the captain to the man at the helm. "Bob Ledbury,
hand me the spyglass."

"Steady," from the mast-head.

"Steady it is," answered the man at the helm.

While we were all looking eagerly out ahead we heard a thundering snore
behind us, followed by a heavy splash. Turning quickly rou