It was barely possible that the chain might have been slipped or accidentally lost by some vessel; but probabilities were strong to the contrary. The evident uneasy feeling of the natives, when we were about taking up our anchor, was a significant circumstance. Could we have let go the other anchor, and taken time to investigate the matter by underrunning the small chain, we should, no doubt, have found positive evidence of treachery, and might have shed light upon the fate of some long-missing vessel.
We ran to leeward of the island and shaped our course to the northward and westward, not sighting any other island of the Caroline group. In a few days we parted company with the Leonidas, and went our way alone toward the Japan cruising-ground.
CHAPTER XX.
ON JAPAN.—ORMSBEE'S PEAK.—WHALING INCIDENTS.—A YANKEE TRICK.
The words, "on Japan," as used by sperm whalemen, do not necessarily indicate the near vicinity of the islands of that name, but indicate all that part of the North Pacific Ocean to the eastward of them, even to the meridian of 180 degrees, between the parallels of twenty-five and forty degrees. The "Japan Sea," lying between the islands and the main coast of Asia, had not, at the time of which I write, been penetrated by whalers, though it has since become well known as a right whaling ground.
The season "on Japan," as usually made, was from April or May to September, and the usual route was to run well to the westward in the early part of the season, and then work back again, making the autumn port at one of the Sandwich Islands; a group which has derived great importance from its position, seeming to have been providently dropped midway in the North Pacific, as a "half-way house," between the two continents, as well as a haven of refuge for the belated whalemen from all the northern cruising grounds.
The first part of our cruise we visited the Bonin Islands, where we added somewhat to our stock of vegetables, and in this vicinity we took considerable oil. At an uninhabited island of this group we also made a good haul of green turtle, which afforded us high living for the time being. We stood to the northward, cruising up the east coast of Niphon, one of the principal of the Japan Islands, and saw the walls of the great city of Jeddo, but, at that period, this great empire was a sealed book to all foreigners except the Chinese and Dutch, and even to these favored nations but few pages were opened. We met with a junk now and then, but they shunned all communication with us, and, by putting off dead before the wind, their best point of sailing, generally managed to keep clear of us, as we did not care to devote all day to a stern chase. The class of "junks" of which we were now especially in search were not to to be found here, the cetaceous monsters which bear them not appearing to frequent the immediate vicinity of this coast. So we hauled to the southward again and soon fell in with sperm whales, and with numerous ships, among which were our old consorts, the Fortitude and the Pandora, both of them having met with fair success.
An accident happened while on this cruising ground, which had well-nigh terminated the career of our worthy chief officer. We lowered and struck a large whale, having a new line in our boat, which had been stretched and coiled down only a few days before, and was somewhat wiry, as any whale line is liable to be when first used. The whale sounded heavily, and I watched the tub anxiously as the line ran spinning and smoking round the loggerhead. Already half our line was out and had run clear thus far when I noticed a lifting of the centre or "heart" of the coil in the tub; it was rising up through the larger bights; the alarm was cried, "Foul line! Cut!" but it was too late. I writhed myself clear of it, as it flew by me in a snarl and whizzed between the heads of the oarsmen as they leaned outboard to escape the danger. The snarl was gone, and the mate with it! The bowman seized the hatchet and divided the line as quickly as possible. There was a moment of anxious suspense which seemed an hour. The head of Father Grafton rose to the surface nearer the old man's boat than ours; he was seized by strong hands before he could sink again, though I could see that he was almost at the last agony, and, as they pulled him in, the blood started from his nose, and eyes, and even from his ears! The whale went to windward, spouting clear, and we soon gave up the pursuit as hopeless. But we had saved our mate, and a few hours sufficed to bring him all right again.