heed of our repeated hails, except that he merely turned his
head, gave us a brief glance, eased off the main-sheet a bit, and let
the schooner spin away towards the land. We learnt next evening that he
had suddenly emerged on deck from his bunk, given the helmsman a cuff
on the head, and driven him, the steward and the other remaining hand
up for'ard. They and the native passengers, who knew something of his
performances when in liquor, were too frightened to do anything, and let
him have his own way.

We pulled after the schooner as hard as we could for a quarter of an
hour, then gave it up and steered for the barque, which was now a couple
of miles away. She had been working to windward after the chief
mate's and fourth mate's boats--both of which had quickly killed their
respective whales--when the disaster to the second officer's boat was
seen, and she was now coming towards us. The fourth boat was miles
distant, chasing the main body of the 'pod,' in company with those of
the other barques and the ship.

By this time it was all but dark; a short, choppy sea had risen, the
wind came in sharp, angry puffs every now and then, and we made scarcely
any headway against it. The barque seemed to be almost standing still,
though she was really coming along at a ripping pace. Presently she
showed a light, and we felt relieved. Just then the man with the broken
leg called to his officer, and asked for a smoke, and I was filling my
pipe for him when the boat struck something hard with a crash, shipped a
sea aft, and at once capsized, several of us being taken underneath her.

The Portuguese, who was a gallant little fellow, had, with one of the
Penrhyn Islanders, got the wounded man clear, and presently we all found
ourselves clinging to the boat, which was floating bottom-up and badly
bilged. Fortunately, none of us were hurt, but our position was a
dangerous one, and we kept hailing repeatedly, fearing that the barque
would run by us in the darkness, and that the blue sharks would discover
us. Then, to our joy, we saw her close to, bearing right down upon us,
and now came the added terror that she would run us down, unless those
on board could be made to hear our cries and realise our situation.

Again we raised our voices, and shouted till our lungs were exhausted,
but no answer came, the only sounds we heard being the thrapping
and swash of the waves against our boat. Five minutes--which seemed
hours--passed, and then