Dan'l gave the order. Brander assented briskly. "I'll take a boarding
knife with me, if you don't object, sir," he said.
Dan'l chuckled. He was enjoying himself. "I'd suggest a clothespin, Mr.
Brander," he said; and he stood aft and watched Brander and his men drop
their boat and put away and row toward the lean carcass of the dead
whale, a quarter mile away. The jeers of the seamen forward pursued
them.
Dan'l got his glass to enjoy watching Brander and his crew tow the whale
out of the _Sally's_ neighborhood. The men worked hard; and Dan'l said
to Cap'n Wing: "They're in haste to be through, you'll see, sir." Once
the tow was under way, it moved swiftly. Men on the _Sally_ breathed
again....
They saw, after a time, that Brander and his men had stopped rowing and
brought their boat alongside the whale; and Dan'l's glass revealed
Brander digging and hacking at the carcass with the boarding knife....
Brander came back alongside in due time; and long before he reached the
_Sally_, Dan'l could see the exultation in the fourth mate's eyes. As
they slid past the bow, Brander's men taunted those who had jeered at
them. They were like men who have turned the tables on their
enemies....
Dan'l was uneasy.... The boat slid into position, the men hooked on the
tackles, then climbed aboard.... They swung on the falls, the boat rose
into its cradle.... And Brander turned to Dan'l and said pleasantly:
"It was worth the smell, Mr. Tobey."
He pointed into the boat; and Dan'l looked and saw three huge chunks of
black and waxy stuff--black, with yellowish tints showing through--and
he smelled a faint and musky fragrance. And he looked at Brander. "What
is it?" he asked. "What do you think you've found?"
"Ambergris," said Brander. "Three big chunks, four little ones. Close to
three hundred pounds...."
One-eyed Mauger chuckled at Brander's back. "And worth three hundred a
pound," he cackled. "Worth the smell, Mr. Tobey!"