The Voyage of the Steadfast | Page 9

no disagreeable
smell, Harry did not mind it; and even Mr Champion, whom he looked
upon as very refined, was so accustomed to the work that he took it as a
matter of course.
After the oil was thus extracted, it was ladled into casks, which were
stowed below.
CHAPTER THREE.
ADVENTURE WITH SEA-LIONS.
The Steadfast had made so successful a commencement of her voyage

that all hands hoped she would get full much sooner than many had
expected, and be able to return home. The whales, however, having
disappeared from the fishing-ground where she had been engaged, she
was about to proceed to the western part of the Pacific, when a mass of
rugged rocks was sighted out of the ocean.
"An awkward spot to run against on a dark night," observed Harry, as
they approached them. "Hark! what is that strange roaring noise? I
could fancy that a thousand lions or more were assembled together
holding a concert."
"They are sea-lions, Master Harry," observed old Tom; "the whole rock
is covered with them and their cubs. If we could manage to get hold of
some of them, we should find their skins very useful."
Captain Graybrook was of this opinion, and as the wind was light and
there was no dangerous current running, the ship was hove to, and he
ordered two of the boats to be got ready to capture some of the
sea-lions, the ordinary species of seal found in the southern seas. Mr
Champion took command of one boat and old Tom of the other, and the
boys got leave to accompany the second mate.
They pulled away towards the rocks. As a heavy surf broke on the
rocks, rushing up some distance with great force and then back again,
which would have dashed the boats to pieces, had they got within its
influence, they were compelled to pull a considerable distance round
before a spot was found on which a landing could be effected with any
degree of safety. Even there, those who were to land had to watch for
an opportunity, as the boat was sent forward on the crest of a breaker,
to leap out and spring up the rocks, while the boats, with a couple of
hands in each, were pulled back again out of danger.
No sooner had the party scrambled up the rocks than the seals, alarmed
at their approach, made towards the water, rushing down impetuously,
and working themselves along by means of their fins--their heads and
manes giving them the appearance of lions. Their threatening aspect,
and the loud roars they uttered, were enough to daunt any one not
accustomed to encounter them.

"I wish that I had remained on board," cried Dickey. "See, here comes a
fellow; he will knock us over to a certainty. What shall we do?"
The men, however, had brought heavy clubs, with which they struck
right and left as the monsters, with glistening fangs, rushed down on
them, snapping their jaws, powerful enough to bite off a limb in an
instant. The position of the party was dangerous in the extreme as the
monsters came rolling and sliding down the rocks. To avoid them, the
men were compelled to climb over the bodies of those which had been
stunned; but still more met them, and Harry would have been knocked
over by a big seal, and probably carried into the sea, had not Mr
Champion, close to whom he kept, struck the creature on the head and
dragged Harry out of the way. Old Tom saved Dickey in the same way.
Though most of the seals which had not been killed had made their
escape, a few remained on the higher ground, among which was an
enormous male seal. The monster seemed determined to give battle to
his assailants, and came down the rocks towards them shaking his mane
and extending wide his jaws armed with sharp tusks. Old Tom, who
boldly went forward to meet the creature, inflicted a tremendous blow
with his club on its head, but without stopping its career. Wishing to
secure it, he took a harpoon which one of the men, by his orders, had
carried with a line attached to it, and plunged it into the animal, trying
to make fast the line to a jutting point of rock. The seal, however,
rendered only more furious from its wounds, rushed into the midst of
the party, dragging the rope, which, as Mr Champion sprang forward to
meet it, became entangled around his leg. Before any one could rescue
him, he was carried away into the midst of the wild surf dashing up
against the rocks.
A cry of horror and dismay rose from all the party as they saw the
young mate buried beneath the waves. Old