The Voyage of the Steadfast | Page 5

Champion
aloud) "may have accepted the truth, and then--" and she looked
upwards--"when we are called upon to part, we may know that we shall
meet together to enjoy the glorious happiness which our gracious
Saviour has prepared for all those who love Him."
CHAPTER TWO.
WHALING IN THE PACIFIC.

The Steadfast, South Sea whaler, having doubled Cape Horn, was
traversing the broad waters of the Pacific. Royals and studding-sails
were set to catch the light breeze which sent her gliding majestically
along over the calm ocean; her six whaleboats, with stem and stern
alike, hung from the davits above her black sides. A tropical sun shone
down on her deck, making the pitch hiss and bubble in the seams, and
driving all on deck whose duty did not compel them to keep elsewhere,
into such shade as the sails and bulwarks afforded.
Captain Graybrook, a fine-looking man, with an open, intelligent
expression of countenance, stood aft, sextant in hand, prepared to take a
meridional altitude. Near him was his second mate, Leonard Champion,
with two boys, one of whom also held a sextant.
"You can now, Harry, take an observation as well as I can, and before
long, if you pay attention, you will become a good navigator," observed
the young mate.
"Thank you for teaching me, Mr Champion; that's just my wish,"
answered Harry.
"Where there's a will there's a way; and you, Mr Bass," said the mate,
turning to the other boy, "ought to do as well as Harry by this time."
"Dickey is fonder of skylarking than shooting the stars," remarked
Harry, laughing.
"Not fonder than you are, Harry," retorted Dickey Bass, who was the
son of a former shipmate of Captain Graybrook, and brought by him to
sea through regard for the boy's father. "I don't happen to understand
sums as well as you do, and so I don't always get my day's work done
as correctly as yours."
"Always! why, if we were to go by your reckoning, Dickey, we should
have been in the middle of the forests of South America, or on the top
of the Andes, before now. When did you ever make a right
calculation?" asked Harry, who delighted in bantering Dickey, though
they were really great friends.

"Why, for the last fortnight I don't suppose I have been more than eight
or ten degrees out at the utmost."
Mr Champion and Harry laughed heartily.
"Rather a serious error, Mr Bass."
"I meant minutes," said Dickey, "or perhaps seconds; I always forget
which is which."
At that moment Captain Graybrook lifted his instrument to his eye, and
the mate and Harry followed his example.
"The sun has dipped; make it noon," said the captain; and the ship's bell
was struck.
Having written off their observations and quickly made their
calculations, the ship was found to be about seventeen degrees south of
the line, off the coast of Peru.
Look-out men were sent aloft, for they were now approaching a part of
the ocean where whales were in those days likely to be found. As they
looked over the side, many polypi, medusae, and squid were observed
floating on the surface; and occasionally a covey of flying-fish, rising
from the water, darted rapidly over it, quickly again, as their brilliant
wings dried, to sink down and become the prey of their enemies, the
dolphin or bonito. A seaman had just hauled a bucket of water on deck.
Within it was a gelatinous-looking mass. The mate and his young
companions examined it.
"That is part of a squid," he observed, "the whale's food. Probably the
remainder is down the monster's maw. We shall sight a whale before
the day is over, I hope."
"I hope so too," said Harry. "I long to see one killed and brought
alongside. We have had a dull time of it since we touched at Valparaiso.
I thought we should have captured a dozen or more before this."

"You will have to learn patience at sea, my boy," observed the mate.
"We have three years to remain out, and may consider ourselves
fortunate if we get a full ship at the end of that time."
The sextants had been returned to their cases in the cabin, and Harry
and his chum, Dickey Bass, finding it very hot, seated themselves in
the shade by the side of a gun, of which the Steadfast carried eight,
besides a good supply of muskets and cutlasses and other weapons; for,
having to visit regions inhabited by fierce and savage tribes, she was
well armed.
"I say, Harry, what was old Tom talking to you about in your watch last
night, and what made you look so grave this morning? I could not tell
what had come over you," said Dickey Bass.
"He asked me