And they toasted “The Captain.” “And he is a good fellow,” was the remark of one sailor, “though a stickler for duty.”
“Ah! Well, Sconce, dooty is dooty all the world. Stick by that, and we’ll all do well.”
“Dooty,” said another, “is the needle wot points to the Pole, and the Pole is Heaven itself.”
“Very good sentiment for you, Jack. Here’s to dooty!”
“Now, sir”—this to Charlie—“touch her up, sir. Give us ‘Homeward Bound,’ and we’ll all chime in, from Dumpty downwards, to the nipper wot tends the dogs.”
“Homeward Bound” was given with glee; but, of course, it was only a make-believe, because there wasn’t much home life about Kerguelen.
They sighted the island after passing McDonald and Heard Isles.
Charlie again. He had been determined to be first to see land.
Before the entrance to the creek or natural harbour, where the men and animals were, is a spit of rocky land, a rugged kind of breakwater, and had the Sea Elephant been the first inside, her top-masts would have shown over this.
But here was never a ship’s mast to be seen.