Contents
| CHAPTER | PAGE | ||
| I | — | In Which My Cousin and I Have a Serious Falling Out | [7] |
| II | — | In Which is Shown the Result of a Bad Beginning | [15] |
| III | — | In Which I Am Anxious to Learn the Particulars of a Matter of Fourteen Years Standing | [22] |
| IV | — | In Which Ham Mayberry Reveals His Suspicions | [34] |
| V | — | In Which the Old Coachman Goes Somewhat Into Details | [43] |
| VI | — | In Which is Related a Conversation With My Mother | [49] |
| VII | — | In Which I Put Two and Two Together—and Sleep Aboard the Wavecrest | [57] |
| VIII | — | In Which an Expected Comedy Proves to Be a Tragedy | [65] |
| IX | — | In Which I See the Day Dawn Upon a Deserted Ocean | [72] |
| X | — | In Which I Find a Most Remarkable Haven | [82] |
| XI | — | In Which I Am a Terrified Witness of a Wonderful Phenomenon | [92] |
| XII | — | In Which I Find Myself Bound For Southern Seas | [107] |
| XIII | — | In Which Tom Anderly Relates a Story That Arouses My Interest | [119] |
| XIV | — | In Which I Hear For the First Time the Whaler’s Battle-Cry | [133] |
| XV | — | In Which We “Strike on” | [142] |
| XVI | — | In Which There is Some Information and Much Excitement | [150] |
| XVII | — | In Which I Come Very Near Going Out of the Story | [159] |
| XVIII | — | In Which We Realize the “Grind” of the Whaleman’s Life | [164] |
| XIX | — | In Which is Reported a Series of Misadventures | [172] |
| XX | — | In Which our Chapter of Bad Luck is Continued | [180] |
| XXI | — | In Which the Wavecrest Sets Sail Again | [186] |
| XXII | — | In Which We Sail the Silver River and I See a Face I Know | [193] |
| XXIII | — | In Which I Begin to Wonder “Is it Me, Or is it Not Me?” | [198] |
| XXIV | — | In Which I Get Acquainted with Captain Adoniram Tugg | [208] |
| XXV | — | In Which I Follow the Beckoning Finger of a Spectre | [215] |
| XXVI | — | In Which the Sea Spell Goes Ashore on a Most Unfriendly Coast | [222] |
| XXVII | — | In Which We Find the Natives More Unfriendly Than the Coast | [232] |
| XXVIII | — | In Which are Related Several Disappointments | [239] |
| XXIX | — | In Which I Am Not the Only Person Surprised | [245] |
| XXX | — | In Which I At Last Set My Face Homeward with Determination | [253] |
Swept Out to Sea
or
Clint Webb Among the Whalers
Chapter I
In Which My Cousin and I have a Serious Falling Out
The wind had died to just a breath, barely filling the canvas of the Wavecrest. We were slowly making the mouth of the inlet at Bolderhead after a day’s fishing. Occasionally as the fitful breeze swooped down the sloop made a pretty little run, then she’d sulk, with the sail flapping, till another puff came. I lay in the stern with my hand on the tiller, half asleep, while Paul Downes, my cousin, was stretched forward of the mast, wholly in dreamland. A little roll of the sloop as she tacked, almost threw him into the water and he awoke with a snarl and sat up.
“For goodness sake! aren’t we in yet?” he demanded, crossly. “What you been doing for the last hour Clint Webb? We’re no nearer the inlet now than we were then, I swear!”
That was a peculiarity about Paul. He was addicted to laying the faults of even inanimate objects to the charge of other people; and as for himself personally, he was never in the wrong! Now he felt that he must have somebody on whom to vent his vexation—and hunger; I was used to being that scapegoat, and it was seldom that I paid much attention to his snarling. On this particular occasion, I said, calmly: