Chapter XIV: The Boys Make a Discovery

Day after day, the wind held fair and steady, and the gallant, old bark hurled herself through the hissing seas as though she knew she was homeward bound and as anxious to see New Bedford light as were the men.

The second day after the storm, sail after sail had been piled onto her and even her stunsails had been set, for the captain’s last hope of making the cruise a success lay in securing sperm whales, and he drove his ship at her utmost in order to reach the tropics and the sperm whale grounds as soon as possible.

In order to obtain fresh supplies, the _Hector_ again put into Tristan da Cunha and the boys received a rousing welcome from Paul and Getty. When the story of their adventures on Elephant Island was told, the Potter boys thought Tom and Jim the two luckiest fellows in the world, and they roared with merriment over Mike’s amazement at seeing Sam and finding him a negro with a wooden leg. But they were just as firm in their belief that the bo’sun bird was responsible for the ship’s bad luck as were Pem and Mike, while their grandfather prophesied that, in his opinion, the bark’s troubles were not yet over.

“Boun’ to be a death in the bark’s comp’ny,” he declared. “Never knowed it to fail. Jes’ as soon as that happens the curse’ll be off.”

“Well, there’ve been plenty of chances to have a death,” Tom reminded him, “and yet there hasn’t been. Seems to me, if the bird wanted any one to die he’s missed some awful good opportunities.”

“Mebbe,” admitted old Lem. “But ye never _can_ tell what fate has in store fer sailors. I been to sea nigh fifty year an’ I _tell_ ye the more ye see the less ye knows.”

But despite their superstitions, the islanders sympathized most heartily with Captain Edwards and all wished him the best of luck and professed confidence in his finding whales and filling up with sperm oil. When the bark hoisted anchor and sailed from Tristan, one member of her company was left behind, for Sam declared his intention of waiting on the island for the yearly mail ship which would take him back to St. Helena.

Three days after the island had dropped below the horizon astern, the lookout on the _Hector_ reported a steamer’s smoke ahead, and soon afterwards, the smudge of black was visible to those on deck.

“Can’t imagine what she is,” declared Captain Edwards. “We’re out of the track of merchant ships.”

“Maybe it’s a German raider,” suggested Jim. “Then Cap’n Pem _would_ crow over us for scoffing at the bo’sun bird.”

Scarcely had he spoken when Mr. Kemp hailed them from the crosstrees.

“Warship, sir!” he shouted.

“Gosh, perhaps you’re right, Jim!” exclaimed Tom. “Say, wouldn’t that be the limit?”

“Jest erbout what I’d be expectin’ of,” declared Cap’n Pem. “Onluckiest cruise ever I seed. Reckon I’ll stick ter shore arter this.”

“Better wait till you get there,” teased Jim. “If it’s a raider you may be killed. Some one’s got to die, you know.”

“Shet up!” retorted the old whaleman petulantly. “Ain’t there ’nough troubles without a talkin’ ’bout bein’ kilt?”

But all fears as to the identity of the approaching warship were put at rest a moment later, when the second mate called down that she was British and flying signals.

“Can you read them?” asked the skipper.

“Yes, sir,” replied Mr. Kemp.

Slowly he read the flags and called them out, while below, Captain Edwards ran his finger down the code book and, a moment later, with a wild yell, he dashed down the book and seemed suddenly to have gone raving mad.

Throwing his hat in the air, shouting and laughing, the usually staid and dignified skipper danced and leaped about and capered like a schoolboy. Then, leaping to the rail and steadying himself with a grip on the shrouds, he yelled, “Whoop her up, boys, the war’s over! Three cheers, my lads—three times three!” And as the good tidings dawned upon them, the crew gave such rousing cheers that even those upon the warship must have heard.

“Up with your ensign, Mr. Potter. Up with Old Glory and salute!” roared the skipper. “And dress ship! Run up everything you can find!”

But already the boys had forestalled Cap’n Pem and before the old mate could reach the flag-locker, Tom was bending the Stars and Stripes to the halliards and a moment later it rose fluttering to the peak. Three times he dipped it in salute to the trim British cruiser, and, an instant later, the Union Jack dipped in return. Long ere the cruiser was out of sight strings of gay bunting were fluttering up to the bark’s mastheads and Captain Edwards ordered the _Hector_ hove-to.

“No more work to-day!” cried he, as the yards were swung and the light sails furled. “Summon all hands and tell them it’s a holiday, Mr. Kemp. Serve cigars from the after stores, and tell cook to get up the best meal he’s ever cooked for the crew. Nothing’s too good for this day!”

Never had a more boisterous or uproarious day been spent at sea than that which celebrated the close of the World War on the old _Hector_, even though the Armistice had been signed two months previously.

A few days later, a whale was sighted and the spirits of every one rose as three boats were lowered, Captain Edwards himself going in one. But despite every effort, not one of the boats succeeded in getting near the whale until after a long and heart-breaking chase. Then Cap’n Pem got fast, but before the other boats could come near, the iron drew and the thoroughly frightened whale disappeared. Crestfallen, the three boats returned to the bark and once more, yards were squared and the _Hector_ plunged northwards on her course. Then followed day after day of light, baffling winds and an oil-like sea upon which the _Hector_ rolled lazily with canvas slatting idly against the masts and with barely enough motion to give her steerage way.

Lolling upon the decks on the fourth day of the sweltering calm, the boys were gazing idly at the lofty trucks as they slowly swung to and fro across the cloudless sky, when Tom suddenly jerked himself upright and stared fixedly at the fore royal yard.

“Gee, it is!” he ejaculated. “Look, Jim, isn’t that a bo’sun bird up on the fore royal yard, close to the mast?”

Jim peered at the spot indicated and for a moment could see nothing. Then a slight movement caught his eye and he made out the snowy plumage and long tail feathers of the bird.

“You’re right!” he assured Tom. “It’s another bo’sun all right. Funny no one else has seen it.”

“No one’s looked aloft,” replied Tom. “They’re all busy on deck and even Cap’n Pem hasn’t bothered watching the sails, it’s been so calm.”

“Well, don’t let’s tell any one,” whispered Jim. “It’ll just make them nervous.”

But the bird had no intention of not having his presence known, and scarcely had Jim spoken when it uttered several harsh cries. Instantly, every man’s eyes were turned to the royal yard and at that moment a second bo’sun bird fluttered down and alighted beside the first. Almost like a dirge, a deep, moaning sigh arose from the crew.

“Gosh!” exclaimed Tom. “That must mean twice as much bad luck to come and three men to die. Cap’n Pem will be——”

“Thar she blows!” shouted the lookout, and instantly the harbingers of misfortune were forgotten as the men rushed to their boats.

Within a mile of the motionless bark, two big sperm whales were swimming lazily, now and then rolling on their sides, occasionally slapping their enormous flukes against the water playfully and evidently utterly oblivious of the enemies so near. Rapidly all four boats were lowered and went speeding towards the whales, and ten minutes after they had been sighted both of the creatures had irons in their sides and were towing two boats each at express train speed. Directly away from the _Hector_ they sped; one to the west and the other to the north, and in an incredibly short space of time the boats were out of sight of the deck. But the lookouts on the mastheads could still see them and constantly reported their doings to Mike, who had charge of the ship.

“Skipper’s fin-up!” shouted a lookout presently. “Mister Potter’s millin’! Now he’s sounded! Breached again! Going in! In his flurry! Spoutin’ blood! Fin-up!”

“Hurrah, they’ve killed ’em both!” yelled the boys, who had been watching from a point of vantage on the main royal yard. “Now who says bo’sun birds are bad luck!”

“Faith Oi do,” replied Mike. “’Tis tin good moiles they be an’ wid noight a-comin’ on. B’gorra, ’tis a foine fix we do be in wid the barrk becalmed. Shure ’tis aither losin’ o’ the whales or av the ship for thim, loike as not.”

Then, as if to prove the ridiculous superstition false, a breath of hot wind stirred the Hector’s upper sails; another stronger puff filled the topsails; the glassy sea broke into shimmering crinkled ripples, and ten minutes later, the bark was gliding swiftly towards the distant boats before a steady wind.

Just as the sun was sinking beyond the rim of the sea, the two whales were alongside and by the time darkness fell, cutting-in was in full swing and the black smoke of the try-works rose like a pall above the _Hector’s_ trucks.

Throughout the night, the following day and the next night, the work went on without cessation and at the end of the time one hundred and ten barrels of sperm oil had been stowed in the bark’s hold.

Once more the captain and men looked hopeful while Tom and Jim teased old Pem and the others unmercifully over their superstition. At first, the old whaleman strove to find some argument or excuse to uphold his belief, but failing in this, he wisely declined to say anything, while Mike, with Irish wit, declared that three always was a lucky number whether bo’sun birds or anything else and that he was sure that their bad luck was over.

Captain Edwards claimed that he never had had much faith in such things and was convinced there was nothing in it, while Mr. Kemp admitted that he never knew of three bo’sun birds lighting on one ship on one voyage before and therefore didn’t know what it might foretell. But not even the most superstitious and pessimistic seaman could have found any reason for saying, “I told you so,” for the weather held fine until after the bark had crossed the equator and three more whales had been taken and had added their quota of nearly one hundred barrels of oil.

Every one was in high spirits and Captain Edwards felt confident that even if he could not fill up he could secure enough oil to meet the expenses of the cruise when he reached the West Indian grounds. Once more, however, ill luck seemed to be with the _Hector_. For week after week she cruised about, with lookouts constantly at the mastheads, but never the welcome “There she blows!” sounded from aloft, and once again the men began to grumble and the skipper lost his smile and jollity.

“Guess it’s no use, Mr. Potter,” he announced one day. “Might as well give up. We’re just wasting time and money here,—must be I’m getting too old for a-whaling.”

Faint upon the distant horizon, shimmered a small island, and putting his glasses to his eyes the captain studied it intently for a time.

“I expect we’d better run over to Monita yonder,” he remarked, half to himself. “There’s good water there and coconuts. Might as well fill the casks and let the men stretch their legs ashore before squaring away for Gay Head.”

At his direction, the helmsman spun the wheel a few spokes, the bark’s head swung towards the island and the boys, elated at thoughts of going ashore, gazed with interest at the little speck of sea-girt land as the bark rapidly bore down upon it. Soon the nodding palms upon the shores were visible, the boys could see the rich, green growth upon the low hills; upon the beach of coral sand they could see the slender thread of white foam and near one end they made out a small stream flowing across the beach to the sea. Never, they thought, had they seen such a beautiful spot as this little West Indian island. They were fascinated by the wondrous blue and turquoise of the sea. The fact that it was uninhabited thrilled them with the boyish love of desert islands, and they were crazy with impatience to get ashore and explore the land beyond the wave-worn rocks that bounded the beach at either end.

Half a mile from the shore, the bark came to anchor, and as the boat was lowered and the boys dropped into it, they uttered cries of wonder and delight at the marvelous scene which met their eyes as they looked over the boat’s side. Through the crystal-clear water the bottom, five fathoms below, was as plain as though they were looking through air. Half buried in the sand, was the bark’s great anchor with its trailing cable; huge starfish and sponges of every hue dotted the ocean’s floor; big purple and violet sea-fans waved gently to an unseen current and about the many-colored masses of coral, gay-hued fish swam to and fro like submarine butterflies.

As the boat grated upon the snowy sand beach, the boys leaped ashore, and yelling like Indians with the sheer joy of the feel of land under their feet they raced up the beach. While some of the men rolled the water casks to the edge of the stream, others proceeded to gather coconuts, while Cap’n Pem seated himself under the shade of a spreading tree, and lighting his pipe lay back upon the soft, warm sand.

Intent upon exploration, the two boys hurried along the beach to the outjutting rocks—stopping now and then to examine some odd specimen of marine life cast up by the sea—and scrambling over the sharp limestone, they found themselves at a little semicircular cove bordered by a second beach.

A few yards from them, a large, irregular grayish object was bobbing about at the edge of the water and thinking it some strange fish or animal, the boys hurried to it. Much to their surprise, they found it to be a mass of curious, porous material unlike anything they had ever seen.

“It looks like pumice-stone,” commented Tom. “But there isn’t any volcano here.”

“And it’s soft,” announced Jim who had poked it with a bit of driftwood.

“Must be some sort of sponge, I guess,” said Tom. “Let’s pull it ashore and look at it.”

Bringing sticks from the fringe of brush along the beach, the boys tried to drag the stuff ashore, but it broke or pulled apart easily and the sticks could get no hold on it.

“Funny stuff,” remarked Tom, as he stooped to examine a small lump he had dragged up with his stick. “Something like water-soaked bread. Hello! Hasn’t it got a funny smell.”

“And here’s a piece of horn or something in it,” exclaimed Jim. “Say, let’s take this piece back and ask Cap’n Pem about it. They must have some coconuts down by now.”

Picking up the small piece of the material which had so aroused their curiosity, they made their way back over the rocks and found the old whaleman snoring.

“Oh, Cap’n Pem!” cried Tom, poking their friend gently in the ribs. “Look here, what’s this stuff?”

“Lemme be!” ejaculated the old man. “Derned ef ye _ain’t_ a nuisance. Why can’t ye ’muse yersel’s? What ye want, anyhow?”

“We want to know what this is,” explained Tom, holding out the lump of greasy, gray stuff they had found. “There’s a big pile of it yonder and we never saw anything like it.”

Impatiently Pem raised his head, glanced at the object Tom held out, and the next instant leaped to his feet as if a bomb had exploded under him.

“Jumping Jehosephat!” he shouted as the boys gazed at him in amazement. “Where’n tarnation’d ye git it? Got a lot on it, ye say! Well, I’ll be everlastin’ly biled! What is it? Sufferin’ cats, don’t ye know? It’s ambergris, boys, ambergris, an’ wuth five hundred dollars a poun’ ef it’s wuth a cent! Come ’long, where in Sam Hill is it?”

“Ambergris?” cried Jim as the two boys hurried towards their find, with Cap’n Pem stumping at his top speed beside them, “and worth five hundred dollars a pound! Hurrah! We’ve got a fortune, Tom. There must be a ton of it.”

But although there was far less than a ton of the valuable material, there was enough to make the old whaleman’s eyes fairly bulge from their sockets, and, calling on the boys to help, he plunged into the water to his armpits and feverishly rolled and dragged the mass of ambergris beyond the water’s edge. Then, floundering about in the shoal water, the three gathered a number of smaller masses which had broken loose, and hunted over every corner of the beach and rocks searching for more, while Cap’n Pem constantly uttered exclamations of wonder and congratulations to the boys.

“Better’n a full cargo o’ ’ile!” he declared. “Why, ding-bust me! Ye’ve got nigh onto two hunderd pound here, an’ that’s a hunderd thousan’ dollars—jes’ as good as two thousan’ bar’l o’ ile. Derned ef ye ain’t millionaires! Reckon they’re bein’t no more. Run over and fetch the men, Tom, and hev ’em bring some o’ them casks.”

When at last the ambergris was safely secured in the casks and in the boat, everything else had been forgotten, and hastily throwing in the coconuts, Cap’n Pem and the two boys were pulled to the bark. Carefully and with constant cautioning from Cap’n Pem the casks of treasure from the sea were lifted on board and carried aft, where, to the wondering eyes of the skipper and the others on board, the boys’ find was exhibited.

“But it’s not ours,” declared Tom, when the captain congratulated the boys on having made a fortune. “It belongs to the ship. We’re officers, you know and we won’t take more than our lay.”

Despite the captain’s protests, the boys were firm in their decision and at last the other gave in.

“Well, have it your way if it pleases you,” agreed the captain. “The ambergris weighs a little over 300 pounds so your share of that alone will be about $3,000, each. Looks as if the _Hector_ wasn’t so unlucky after all. If we’d taken three thousand barrels of oil—besides what we have—it wouldn’t have been worth more than those casks. You’ve saved the day, boys.”

“Reckon I’ll have ter knuckle down about them there bo’sun birds,” chuckled Cap’n Pem. “Mebbe three on ’em does mean good luck, jes’ as Mike said.”

“Shure an’ didn’t Oi tell yez ’twas a full-house we’d be afther havin’ aboord ship?” exclaimed Mike. “An’ b’gorra, ’tis harrd to bate thot—burrds or no burrds!”

“Or perhaps it was your wooden leg,” laughed Tom. “Dad said the bark was as likely to go to sea with a wooden-legged mate as to come back with a load of ambergris, and it’s done both. Gee, won’t we have the laugh on him, though!”