"I know it. Wait and see."
After a little, she spoke of the ill luck that had pursued the Sally. "Isn't it unusual to go almost six weeks without getting a whale?"
"No, not necessarily," he told her. "You may kill every other day for a year, and not see a fish for three months after. The whale seems to come and go, in some waters...."
"These?" she asked.
He nodded. "It's uncertain, here. We're working over now into better hunting grounds. The Sally's done well, thus far, anyway. Almost a thousand barrels, and not out a year. I've heard of ships that came home with empty casks."
She looked at him curiously. "I think you know more about the work than most men aboard," she said. "Yet you've not had the experience...."
"I've picked it up at games, read it, guessed it," he said pleasantly. "They know more about the practical end than I. I haven't been tried out yet, you know."
She smiled. "Mr. Tichel says you're a Jonah," she told him. "I think he would be in favor of throwing you overboard."
He laughed cheerfully. She added: "I hope you're not one. I'm anxious that Cap'n Wing should make a big record on this cruise. It's my first with him, you know...."
His eyes were sober; but he said: "We'll fill the casks, all right. I wouldn't worry."