The whale at once made a great commotion, slashing about and beating up the water, then diving deep down. The sailors "paid out" the rope attached to the harpoon as the whale went down. Sometimes they had to cut it to keep from being dragged under. But when this didn't happen the whale would come up after a while and start away dragging the boat along at a terrific speed. In time he would get tired and the boat would again be rowed near, and a lance thrust into his side until he was quite dead.
It was all exciting and dangerous work, for sometimes the whale would attack the boat and splinter it to pieces with a blow of his tail, and the men, often badly hurt, be thrown into the sea, and sometimes lost. The dead whale was towed off to the ship, here he was moored to the side, and the body cut up. The great pieces of fat blubber "tried out," that is, melted in pots over the fire on the deck, and the oil run off into barrels and stowed away in the hold.
[a]LOADING THE SHIP]
Captain Hawes made the children a little toy schooner which they sailed in the coves along the beach. He showed them just how to "trim" the sails and set the rudder, so that the boat would "tack" and sail against the wind, "on the wind," he called it.
About this time they heard that the new ship, now all rigged and with all sails in place, had been taken to the neighboring port and was taking on her cargo for a long voyage. As they wanted to see the ship again, the Captain took them on this little journey to see the work being done at the docks.
Loading a ship is always a strenuous and hurly-burly affair, with much bustle, shouting, hauling, pushing, and pulling. The children, under Patsey's lead, found a good point of vantage on top of some boxes, and watched the work.
Busy "stevedores," who had charge, were hurrying the "longshoremen," who rolled barrels, and carried bags up the gangplank into the ship, to be snugly stowed away between decks. Bales and boxes were being hoisted over the rail, to be lowered through the hatches into the hold. The donkey engine buzzed, the mate shouted orders, and everything, to the children, seemed confusion, but it was orderly confusion, for the work was rapidly going ahead. The great quantity of goods which went aboard astonished Bob and Betty; they had never seen so many boxes, barrels, bales, and bags before. And yet this was only the beginning, for the Captain told them that even at this rate it would still take many days to load the ship.