“Can you show your irons in him?”
“I can, if I have a chance.”
There was a laugh all around, and the mate of the Oriole seemed to assent to the merriment, for a faint smile lighted his countenance.
“I’ll give you the chance,” Gates responded.
The two captains examined the leviathan, and, sure enough, there were two fresh irons in the whale with a short piece of warp attached to each. We laid on our oars, awaiting the result. Captain Gamans examined the harpoons carefully and then, turning to Captain Gates, said, “There’s our cypher stamped in each of them.”
Captain Gamans maintained that the case came within the usage acknowledged and followed by whalemen. Captain Gates replied, “I don’t know but it does, Gamans, but I can’t give up that whale for old friendship’s sake. I have my owners to look out for as well as officers and crew. It seems as if our men did some of the killing. Be that as it may, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. You take the whale and then we’ll gam this evening and draw up some kind of an agreement which shall state all the facts to satisfy our owners, and which may be evidence in court, if the case can’t be settled in any other way. I want to see your ship, for I’ve never been in her before. But you know the Oriole of old, so I’m going to invite myself aboard of your vessel.”
“Good,” said Captain Gamans. Then he continued earnestly, “What’s the news from home?”
“The chief news is the war.”
“What war?”
“The Civil War.”