Nor as it only among the stern passengers that Dingo's remarkable4 feat5 was discussed; amongst the crew in the bow the dog not only soon gained the reputation of being able to read, but was almost credited with being able to write too, as well as any sailor among them; indeed the chief wonder was that he did not speak.
"Perhaps he can," suggested Bolton, the helmsman, "and likely enough some fine day we shall have him coming to ask about our bearings, and to inquire which way the wind lies."
"Ah! why not?" assented7 another sailor; "parrots talk, and magpies8 talk; why shouldn't a dog? For my part, I should guess it must be easier to speak with a mouth than with a beak9."
"Of course it is," said Howick, the boatswain; "only a quadruped has never yet been known to do it."
Perhaps, however, the worthy10 fellow would have been amazed to hear that a certain Danish savant once possesed a dog that could actually pronounce quite distinctly nearly twenty different words, demonstrating that the construction
[Illustration: "This Dingo is nothing out of the way."]
of the glottis, the aperture11 at the top of the windpipe, was adapted for the emission12 of regular sounds: of course the animal attached no meaning to the words it uttered any more than a parrot or a jay can comprehend their own chatterings.
Thus, unconsciously, Dingo had become the hero of the hour. On several separate occasions Captain Hull13 repeated the experiment of spreading out the blocks before him, but invariably with the same result; the dog never failed, without the slightest hesitation14, to pick out the two letters, leaving all the rest of the alphabet quite unnoticed.
Cousin Benedict alone, somewhat ostentatiously, professed15 to take no interest in the circumstance.
"You cannot suppose," he said to Captain Hull, after various repetitions of the trick, "that dogs are to be reckoned the only animals endowed with intelligence Rats, you know, will always leave a sinking ship, and beavers16 invariably raise their dams before the approach of a flood. Did not the horses of Nicomedes, Scanderberg and Oppian die of grief for the loss of their masters? Have there not been instances of donkeys with wonderful memories? Birds, too, have been trained to do the most remarkable things; they have been taught to write word after word at their master's dictation; there are cockatoos who can count the people in a room as accurately17 as a mathematician18; and haven't you heard of the old Cardinal's parrot that he would not part with for a hundred gold crowns because it could repeat the Apostles' creed19 from beginning to end without a blunder? And insects," he continued, warming into enthusiasm, "how marvellously they vindicate20 the axiom-
'In minimis maximus Deus!'
Are not the structures of ants the very models for the architects of a city? Has the diving-bell of the aquatic21 argyroneta ever been surpassed by the invention of the most skilful23 student of mechanical art? And cannot fleas24 go through a drill and fire a gun as well as the most accomplished25 artilleryman? This Dingo is nothing out of the way. I suppose he belongs to some unclassed species of mastiff. Perhaps one day or other he may come to be identified as the 'canis alphabeticus' of New Zealand."
The worthy entomologist delivered this and various similar harangues26; but Dingo, nevertheless, retained his high place in the general estimation, and by the occupants of the forecastle was regarded as little short of a phenomenon. The feeling, otherwise universal, was not in any degree shared by Negoro, and it is not improbable that the man would have been tempted27 to some foul28 play with the dog if the open sympathies of the crew had not kept him in check. More than ever he studiously avoided coming in contact in any way with the animal, and Dick Sands in his own mind was quite convinced that since the incident of the letters, the cook's hatred29 of the dog had become still more intense.
After continual alternations with long and wearisome calms the north-east wind perceptibly moderated, and on the both, Captain Hull really began to hope that such a change would ensue as to allow the schooner30 to run straight before the wind. Nineteen days had elapsed since the "Pilgrim" had left Auckland, a period not so long but that with a favourable31 breeze it might be made up at last. Some days however were yet to elapse before the wind veered32 round to the anticipated quarter.
It has been already stated that this portion of the Pacific is almost always deserted33. It is out of the line of the American and Australian steam-packets, and except a whaler had been brought into it by some such exceptional circumstances as the "Pilgrim," it was quite unusual to see one in this latitude34.
But, however void of traffic was the surface of the sea, to none but an unintelligent mind could it appear monotonous35 or barren of interest. The poetry of the ocean breathes forth36 in its minute and almost imperceptible changes. A marine37 plant, a tuft of seaweed lightly furrowing38 the water, a drifting spar with its unknown history, may afford unlimited39 scope-for the imagination; every little drop passing, in its process of evaporation40, backwards41 and
[Illustration: Occasionally Dick Sands would take a pistol, and now and then a rifle.]
forwards from sea to sky, might perchance reveal its own special secret; and happy are those minds which are capable of a due appreciation42 of the mysteries of air and ocean.
Above the surface as well as below, the restless flood is ever teaming with animal life; and the passengers on board the "Pilgrim" derived43 no little amusement from watching great flocks of birds migrating northwards to escape the rigour of the polar winter, and ever and again descending44 in rapid flight to secure some tiny fish. Occasionally Dick Sands would take a pistol, and now and then a rifle, and, thanks to Mr. Weldon's former instructions, would bring down various specimens45 of the feathered tribe.
Sometimes white petrels would congregate46 in considerable numbers near the schooner; and sometimes petrels of another species, with brown borders on their wings, would come in sight; now there would be flocks of damiers skimming the water; and now groups of penguins47, whose clumsy gait appears so ludicrous on shore; but, as Captain Hull pointed48 out, when their stumpy wings were employed as fins49, they were a match for the most rapid of fish, so that sailors have often mistaken them for bonitos.
High over head, huge albatrosses, their outspread wings measuring ten feet from tip to tip, would soar aloft, thence to swoop50 down towards the deep, into which they plunged52 their beaks53 in search of food. Such incidents and scenes as these were infinite in their variety, and it was accordingly only for minds that were obtuse54 to the charms of nature that the voyage could be monotonous.
On the day the wind shifted, Mrs. Weldon was walking up and down on the "Pilgrim's" stern, when her attention was attracted by what seemed to her a strange phenomenon. All of a sudden, far as the eye could reach, the sea had assumed a reddish hue55, as if it were tinged56 with blood.
"Look, Dick, look! the sea is all red. Is it a sea-weed that is making the water so strange a colour?
"No," answered Dick, "it is not a weed; it is what the sailors call whales' food; it is formed, I believe, of innumerable myriads59 of minute crustacea."
"Crustacea they may be," replied Mrs. Weldon, "but they must be so small that they are mere60 insects. Cousin Benedict no doubt will like to see them."
She called aloud,-
"Benedict! Benedict! come here! we have a sight here to interest you."
The amateur naturalist61 slowly emerged from his cabin followed by Captain Hull.
"Ah! yes, I see!" said the captain; "whales' food; just the opportunity for you, Mr. Benedict; a chance not to be thrown away for studying one of the most curious of the crustacea."
"Nonsense!" ejaculated Benedict contemptuously; "utter nonsense!"
"Why? what do you mean, Mr. Benedict?" retorted the captain; "surely you, as an entomologist, must know that I am right in my conviction that these crustacea belong to one of the six classes of the articulata."
"Are you not aware, sir, that my researches as an entomologist are confined entirely64 to the hexapoda?"
Captain Hull, unable to repress a smile, only answered good-humouredly,-
"I see, sir, your tastes do not lie in the same direction as those of the whale."
And turning to Mrs. Weldon, he continued,-
"To whalemen, madam, this is a sight that speaks for itself. It is a token that we ought to lose no time in getting out our lines and looking to the state of our harpoons66. There is game not far away."
"Do you mean that great creatures like whales feed on such tiny things as these?"
"Yes, my boy," said the captain; "and I daresay they are as nice to them as semolina and ground rice are to you.
When a whale gets into the middle of them he has nothing to do but to open his jaws68, and, in a minute, hundreds of thousands of these minute creatures are inside the fringe or whalebone around his palate, and he is sure of a good mouthful."
"And when he has just closed his snappers is the very time to give him a good taste of the harpoon65," added Captain Hull.
The words had hardly escaped the captain's lips when a shout from one of the sailors announced,-
"A whale to larboard!"
"There's the whale!" repeated the captain. All his professional instincts were aroused in an instant, and he hurried to the bow, followed in eager curiosity by all the stern passengers.
Even Cousin Benedict loitered up in the rear, constrained70, in spite of himself, to take a share in the general interest.
There was no doubt about the matter. Four miles or so to windward an unusual commotion71 in the water betokened72 to experienced eyes the presence of a whale; but the distance was too great to permit a reasonable conjecture73 to be formed as to which species of those mammifers the creature belonged.
Three distinct species are familiarly known. First there is the Right whale, which is ordinarily sought for in the northern fisheries. The average length of this cetacean is sixty feet, though it has been known to attain74 the length of eighty feet. It has no dorsal75 fin6, and beneath its skin is a thick layer of blubber. One of these monsters alone will yield as much as a hundred barrels of oil.
Then there is the Hump-back, a typical representative of the species "balænoptera," a definition which may at first sight appear to possess an interest for an entomologist, but which really refers to two white dorsal fins, each half as wide as the body, resembling a pair of wings, and in their formation similar to those of the flying-fish. It must be owned, however, that a flying whale would decidedly be a rara avis.
Lastly, there is the Jubarte, commonly known as the Finback. It is provided with a dorsal fin, and in length not unfrequently is a match for the gigantic Right whale.
While it was impossible to decide to which of the three species the whale in the distance really belonged, the general impression inclined to the belief that it was a jubarte.
With longing76 eyes Captain Hull and his crew gazed at the object of general attraction. Just as irresistibly77 as it is said a clockmaker is drawn78 on to examine the mechanism79 of every clock which chance may throw in his way, so is a whaleman ever anxious to plunge51 his harpoon into any whale that he can get within his reach. The larger the game the more keen the excitement; and no elephant-hunter's eagerness ever surpasses the zest80 of the whale-fisher when once started in pursuit of the prey81.
To the crew the sight of the whale was the opening of an unexpected opportunity, and no wonder they were fired with the burning hope that even now they might do something to supply the deficiency of their meagre haul throughout the season.
Far away as the creature still was, the captain's practised eye soon enabled him to detect various indications that satisfied him as to its true species. Amongst other things that arrested his attention, he observed a column of water and vapour ejected from the nostrils82. "It isn't a right whale," he said; "if so, its spout83 would be smaller and it would rise higher in the air. And I do not think it is a hump-back. I cannot hear the hump-back's roar. Dick, tell me, what do you think about it?"
"It blows out water, sir," said the apprentice, "water, as well as vapour. I should think it is a finback. But it must be a rare large one."
"Seventy feet, at least!" rejoined the captain, flushing with his enthusiasm.
[Illustration: "What a big fellow!"]
"Ah, Jack, my boy," chuckled86 the captain, "the whale little thinks who are watching him enjoy his breakfast!"
"Yes," said the boatswain; "a dozen such gentlemen as that would freight a craft twice the size of ours; but this one, if only we can get him, will go a good way towards filling our empty barrels."
"Rather rough work, you know," said Dick, "to attack a finback!"
"You are right, Dick," answered the captain; "the boat has yet to be built which is strong enough to resist the flap of a jubarte's tail."
"But the profit is worth the risk, captain, isn't it?"
"You are right again, Dick," replied Captain Hull, and as he spoke87, he clambered on to the bowsprit in order that he might get a better view of the whale.
The crew were as eager as their captain. Mounted on the fore-shrouds, they scanned the movements of their coveted88 prey in the distance, freely descanting upon the profit to be made out of a good finback and declaring that it would be a thousand pities if this chance of filling the casks below should be permitted to be lost.
"Mamma!" cried little Jack, "I should so much like to see a whale close,-quite close, you know."
"And so you shall, my boy," replied the captain, who was standing by, and had come to the resolve that if his men would back him, he would make an attempt to capture the prize.
He turned to his crew,-
"My men! what do you think? shall we make the venture? Remember, we are all alone; we have no whalemen to help us; we must rely upon ourselves; I have thrown a harpoon before now; I can throw a harpoon again; what do you say?"
The crew responded with a ringing cheer,-
"Ay, ay, sir! Ay, ay!"
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1
apprentice
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| n.学徒，徒弟 | |
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lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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fin
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| n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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magpies
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| 喜鹊（magpie的复数形式） | |
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beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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aperture
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| n.孔，隙，窄的缺口 | |
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emission
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| n.发出物，散发物；发出，散发 | |
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hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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beavers
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| 海狸( beaver的名词复数 )； 海狸皮毛； 棕灰色； 拼命工作的人 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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mathematician
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| n.数学家 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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vindicate
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| v.为…辩护或辩解，辩明；证明…正确 | |
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aquatic
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| adj.水生的，水栖的 | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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fleas
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| n.跳蚤( flea的名词复数 )；爱财如命；没好气地（拒绝某人的要求） | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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harangues
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| n.高谈阔论的长篇演讲( harangue的名词复数 )v.高谈阔论( harangue的第三人称单数 ) | |
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tempted
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28
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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32
veered
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| v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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monotonous
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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furrowing
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| v.犁田，开沟( furrow的现在分词 ) | |
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unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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evaporation
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| n.蒸发，消失 | |
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backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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congregate
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| v.(使)集合，聚集 | |
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penguins
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| n.企鹅( penguin的名词复数 ) | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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fins
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| [医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌 | |
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swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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beaks
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| n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者 | |
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obtuse
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| adj.钝的；愚钝的 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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tinged
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| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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mere
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naturalist
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| n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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64
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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harpoon
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| n.鱼叉；vt.用鱼叉叉，用鱼叉捕获 | |
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harpoons
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| n.鱼镖，鱼叉( harpoon的名词复数 )v.鱼镖，鱼叉( harpoon的第三人称单数 ) | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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shrimps
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| n.虾，小虾( shrimp的名词复数 )；矮小的人 | |
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constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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betokened
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| v.预示，表示( betoken的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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74
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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75
dorsal
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| adj.背部的，背脊的 | |
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76
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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77
irresistibly
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| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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78
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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79
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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80
zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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81
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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82
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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83
spout
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| v.喷出，涌出；滔滔不绝地讲；n.喷管；水柱 | |
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84
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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85
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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86
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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88
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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89
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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