We left the crew of the _Catamaran_ in full occupation,--"smoking"
shark-flesh on the back of a _cachalot_ whale.
To make sure of a sufficient stock,--enough to last them with light
rations for a voyage, if need be, to the other side of the Atlantic,--
they had continued at the work all day long, and several hours into the
night. They had kept the fire ablaze by pouring fresh spermaceti into
the furnace of flesh which they had constructed, or rather excavated, in
the back of the leviathan; and so far as that kind of fuel was
concerned, they might have gone on roasting shark-steaks for a
twelvemonth. But they had proved that the spermaceti would not burn to
any purpose without a wick; and as their spare ropes were too precious
to be all picked into oakum, they saw the necessity of economising their
stock of the latter article. But for this deficiency, they might have
permitted the furnace-lamp to burn on during the whole night, or until
it should go out by the exhaustion of the wick.
As they were not yet quite satisfied with the supply of broiled
shark-meat, they had resolved to take a fresh spell at roasting on the
morrow; and in order that the wick should not be idly wasted, they had
"doused the glim" before retiring to rest.
They had extinguished the flame in a somewhat original fashion,--by
pouring upon it a portion of the liquid spermaceti taken out of the
case. The light, after giving a final flash, had gone out, leaving them
in utter darkness.
But they had no difficulty in finding their way back to the deck, of
their craft, where they designed passing the remainder of the night.
During the preceding days they had so often made the passage from
_Catamaran_ to _cachalot_, and _vice versa_, that they could have gone
either up or down blindfolded; and indeed they might as well have been
blindfolded on this their last transit for the night, so dense was the
darkness that had descended over the dead whale.
After groping their way over the slippery shoulders of the leviathan,
and letting themselves down by the rope they had attached to his huge
pectoral fin, they made their supper upon a portion of the hot roast
they had brought along with them; and, washing it down with a little
diluted "canary," they consigned themselves to rest.
Better satisfied with their prospects than they had been for some time
past, they soon fell asleep; and silence reigned around the dark
floating mass that included the forms of _cachalot_ and _Catamaran_.
At that same moment a less tranquil scene was occurring scarce ten miles
from the spot; for it is scarce necessary to say that the light seen by
the ruffians on the great raft--and which they had fancifully mistaken
for a ship's galley-fire,--was the furnace fed by spermaceti on the back
of the whale.
The extinction of the flame had led to a scene which was reaching its
maximum of noisy excitement at about the time that the crew of the
_Catamaran_ were munching their roast shark-meat and sipping their
canary. This scene had continued long after every individual of the
latter had sunk into a sweet oblivion of the dangers that surrounded
them.
All four slept soundly throughout the remainder of the night. Strange
to say, they felt a sort of security, moored alongside that monstrous
mass, which they would not have experienced had their frail tiny craft
been by itself alone upon the ocean. It was but a fancied security, it
is true: still it had the effect of giving satisfaction to the spirit,
and through this, producing an artificial incentive to sleep.
It was daylight before any of them awoke,--or it should have been
daylight, by the hour: but there was a thick fog around them,--so thick
and dark that the carcass of the _cachalot_ was not visible from the
deck of the _Catamaran_, although only a few feet of water lay between
them.
Ben Brace was the first to bestir himself. Snowball had never been an
early riser; and if permitted by his duties, or the neglect of them
either, he would have kept his couch till midday. Ben, however, knew
that there was work to be done, and no time to be wasted in idleness.
The captain of the _Catamaran_ had given up all hopes of the return of
the whaler; and therefore the sooner they could complete their
arrangements for cutting adrift from the carcass, and continuing their
interrupted course towards the west, the better would be their chance of
ultimately reaching land.
Snowball, _sans ceremonie_, was shaken out of his slumbers; and the
process of restoring him to wakefulness also awoke little William and
Lilly Lalee,--so that the whole crew were now up and ready for action.
A hasty _dejeuner a la matelot_ served for the morning repast; after
which Snowball and the sailor, accompanied by the boy, climbed once more
upon the back of the _cachalot_ to resume the operations which had been
suspended for the night; while the girl, as usual, remained in charge of
the _Catamaran_.