Captain Foster!" and Dolly's eyes brightened, "I _am_ glad;
but--but--_please_, for my sake, don't get killed."

A fortnight later, when Foster bade Dolly goodbye for another six
months, she told him softly that she would be glad--oh, so very
glad!--to hear news of him. A whaling voyage was so very dangerous, and
he might get hurt or killed.

And this time, as the _Policy_ sailed and Foster saw Dolly waving to him
from the steps of the Commissary's office, he felt pretty sure that the
letter of marque had advanced his suit considerably.

*****

Fourteen days out from Sydney the _Policy_ took her first whale, greatly
to the delight of old Stevenson and the crew, who looked upon such early
luck as a certain indication of a good cruise. After "trying-out" Foster
kept on to the northward to the sperm-whaling grounds in the Moluccas.
Three days later they spoke the _Endicott_, of Nantucket, whose captain
gave Foster a kindly warning not to go cruising further north, for there
were several Batavian privateers looking out for the English whalers
that were then due on the cruising ground. Then the American wished him
luck and goodbye.

Old Stevenson's face fell; then he swore. "I suppose we have to turn
tail, sir, and try what we can do to the southward and I believe we'd be
a full ship in three months or less up in the Moluccas."

"So do I, and I'm going there."

"But it's dangerous waters, sir; we don't want to lose the ship and rot
in prison in Batavia."

"Mr. Stevenson, I am an Englishman, and Hurry Brothers did not get a
letter of marque for this ship for nothing. You ought to know that
to turn back means an empty ship. It is our duty to go to our proper
cruising ground and cruise till we are a full ship; and all the infernal
Dutchmen in the world mustn't frighten us."

"Very good, sir," said the old mate cheerfully, "but, all the same,
I don't want us to get served like that fellow Portveldt served the old
_Mary Ann_."

Another five weeks passed. So far, "greasy" luck had attended the
_Policy_ for she had taken sixteen more sperm whales, the last of which
was killed in about 8 deg. S. and 120 deg. E., in the Flores Sea. But misfortune
had come upon the ship in other respects, and Foster was in no small
anxiety about his crew, nearly all of whom were ill from lead-poisoning.
This had been brought about by drinking water from leaden tanks in which
oil had once been stored.

A bright look-out was kept, for the