ctims fainted, not being in the best condition at the
outset for undergoing so severe a trial; but all were treated alike,
buckets of salt water being flung over them. This drastic reviver,
while adding to their pain, brought them all into a state of sufficient
activity to get forward when they were released. Smarting and degraded,
all their temporary bravado effectually banished, they were indeed
pitiable objects, their deplorable state all the harder to bear from its
contrast to our recent pleasure when we entertained the visiting crews.

Having completed our quantum of wood, water, and fresh provisions for
the officers, we got under way again for the fishing grounds. I did
not see how we could hope for a successful season, knowing the utterly
despondent state of the crew, which even affected the officers, who, not
so callous or cruel as the skipper, seemed to be getting rather tired
of the constant drive and kick, now the normal condition of affairs.
But the skipper's vigilance was great. Whether he noted any sign of
slackness or indifference on the part of his coadjutors or not, of
course I cannot say, but he certainly seemed to put more vigour into his
attentions than had been his wont, and so kept everybody up to the mark.

Hitherto we had always had our fishing to ourselves; we were now to
see something of the ways of other men employed in the same manner. For
though the general idea or plan of campaign against the whales is the
same in all American whalers, every ship has some individual peculiarity
of tactics, which, needless to say, are always far superior to those of
any other ship. When we commenced our cruise on this new ground,
there were seven whalers in sight, all quite as keen on the chase as
ourselves, so that I anticipated considerable sport of the liveliest
kind should we "raise" whales with such a fleet close at hand.

But for a whole week we saw nothing but a grampus or so, a few loitering
finbacks, and an occasional lean humpback bull certainly not worth
chasing. On the seventh afternoon, however, I was in the main
crow's-nest with the chief, when I noticed a ship to windward of us
alter her course, keeping away three or four points on an angle that
would presently bring her across our bows a good way ahead. I was
getting pretty well versed in the tricks of the trade now, so I kept
mum, but strained my eyes in the direction for which the other ship was
steering. The chief was looking astern at so