During all that day, the sailor and the ex-cook of the _Pandora_ kept
watch from the _summit_ of the dead _cachalot_.
It was not altogether for this purpose they remained there,--since the
mast of the _Catamaran_ would have given them an observatory of equal
and even greater elevation.
There were several reasons why they did not cast off from the carcass,
and continue their westward course: the most important being the hope
that the destroyers of the whale might return to take possession of the
valuable prize which they had left behind them.
There was, moreover, an undefined feeling of security in lying alongside
the leviathan,--almost as great as they might have felt if anchored near
the beach of an actual island,--and this had some influence in
protracting their stay.
But there was yet another motive which would of itself have caused them
to remain at their present moorings for a considerable period of time.
During the intervals of their protracted vigil, they had not been
inattentive to the objects immediately around them: and the carcass of
the whale had come in for a share of their consideration. A
consultation had been held upon it, which had resulted in a
determination not to leave the leviathan until they had rendered its
remains, or at least a portion of them, useful for some future end.
The old whaleman knew that under that dark epidermis over which, for two
days, they had been recklessly treading, there were many valuable
substances that might be made available to their use and comfort, on
board the _Catamaran_.
First, there was the "blubber," which, if boiled or "tried," would, from
the body of an old bull like that, yield at the very least, a hundred
barrels of oil.
This they cared nothing about: since they had neither the pots to boil,
the casks to hold, nor the craft to carry it,--even if rendered into oil
for the market.
But Ben knew that within the skull of the _cachalot_ there was a deposit
of pure sperm, that needed no preparation, which would be found of
service to them in a way they had already thought of.
This sperm could be reached by simply removing the "junk" which forms
the exterior portion of a _cachalot's_ huge snout, and sinking a shaft
into the skull. Here would, or should, be found a cavity filled with a
delicate cellular tissue, containing ten or a dozen large barrels full
of the purest spermaceti.
They did not stand in need of anything like this quantity. A couple of
casks would suffice for their need; and these they desired to obtain for
that want which had suggested itself to both Snowball and the sailor.
They had been long suffering from the absence of fuel,--not wherewith to
warm themselves,--but as a means of enabling them to cook their food.
They need suffer no longer. With the spermaceti to be extracted from
the "case" of the _cachalot_, they could lay in a stock that would last
them for many a day. They had their six casks,--five of them still
empty. By using a couple of them to contain the oil, the raft would
still be sufficiently buoyant to carry all hands, and not a bit less
worthy of the sea.
Both of these brave men had observed the repugnance with which Lilly
Lalee partook of their raw repasts. Nothing but hunger enabled her to
eat what they could set before her. It had touched the feelings of
both; and rendered them desirous of providing her with some kind of food
more congenial to the delicate palate of the child.
Long before they had any intention of abandoning the dead body of the
whale,--in fact shortly after taking possession of it,--Ben Brace,
assisted by Snowball and little William,--the latter having also mounted
upon the monster's back,--cut open the great cavity of the "case" with
the axe; and then inserting a large tin pot,--which had turned up in the
sailor's sea-kit,--drew it put again full of liquid spermaceti.
This was carried down to the deck of the _Catamaran_ when the process of
making a fire was instantly proceeded with.
By means of some untwisted strands of tarry rope, ingeniously inserted
into the oil, the pot was converted into a sort of open lamp,--which
only required to be kindled into a flame.
But Ben Brace had not been smoking a pipe for a period of nearly thirty
years, without being provided with the means of lighting it. In the
same depository from which the tin pot had been obtained was found the
proper implements for striking a light,--flint, steel, and tinder,--and,
as the latter, within the water-tight compartment of the
man-o'-war's-man's chest, having been preserved perfectly dry, there was
no difficulty in setting fire to the oil.
It was soon seen burning up over the rim of the pot with a bright clear
flame; and a large flake of the dried fish being held over the blaze, in
a very short space of time became done to a turn.
This furnished all of them with a meal much more palatable than any they
had eaten since they had been forced to flee from the decks of the
burning _Pandora_.