Milford chronicle., 1905-02-24


The ttro stood there facing each other.
Wilbur, looking sh0reward, where the
deserters could be seen gathered to-
gether in a silent, observing group.
"We're well shut of them," grOwled
Moran, her thumbs in her belt. "Only
now Wen never know what was the
matter with the schooner these last
few nights. "HOhw she exclaimed un-
der her breath, her scowl thickening.
Sometimes don't wonder the beasts
cut"
The dead whale was lying four miles
out of the entrance of Magdalena bay,
and as the junk and the schooner drew
near seemed like a huge black boat
floating bottom up. Over it and upon
it swarmed and clamOred thousands Of
sea birds, while all around and below
the water was thick with gOrging
sharks. A dreadful, strangling decay
fOuled all the air.
The whale was a sperm whale and
fully twice the length Of the Bertha
AIillner. The work Of tricing him up
occupied the beachcOmbers throughout
the entire day. 1t was out of the ques-
ton to keep them off the schooner, and
Wilbur and Moran were too wise to
/ try. They swarmed the forward deck
and rigging like a plague Of unclean
monkeys, climbing with an agility and
nimbleness that made Wilbur sick at
his stomach. They were unlike any
/ Cinnamon he had ever seen-hideOus
] to a degree that he had imagined i'm
4 possible in a human being. On two oc-
casions a fight developed, and in an
4 instant the little hatchets were fash
/ ing like the flash of a snakes fangs.
( Toward the end of the day one Of
I them returned to the junk screaming
like a stuck pig, a bit of his chin bit
ten off.
/ Moran and Wilbur kept to the quar-
/ ter deck, always within reacl Hf the
huge cutting-in spades, but thN
nese beachcombers were too elaI,
/ over their prize to pay them much at
I tention.
And indeed the dead monster proved
a veritable treasure trove. By the end
/ of the day he had been triced up to the
I foremast, and all hands, straining at
I the windlass, had raised the mighty
( head out of the water. The Cinnamon
/ descended upon the smooth, black
/ body, their bare feet sliding and slip
ping at every step. They held on by
jabbing their knives into the hide as
+ glacier climbers do their ice picks. The
/ head yielded barrel after barrel of oil
and fair quantity of bone. The
blubber was taken aboard the junk,
minced up with hatchets and run into
casks.
Last Of all, a Chinaman cut hole
through the cease" and, actually de-
scending into the inside of the head,
stripped away the spermaceti, clear as
crystal, and packed it into buckets,
which were hauled up on the junk's
deck. The work occupied some two or
three days. During this time the Ber-
tina Millner was keeled over to nearly
twenty degrees by the weight of the
dead monster. However, neither Will
bur nor Moran made protest The
Cinnamon would do as they pleased.
That was said and signed. And they
"WellY" said Moran, coming up.
Wilbur caught his breath as the two
stood there facing each other, so sharp
was the contrast. The man, the Mon
golian. small, weazened, leather color
ed. secretive-a strange, complex crea-
ture. stepped in all the obscure mys-
terry of the east, nervous, i'll at ease
and the girl, the Anglo-Saxon, daugh-
ter of the northmen. huge, blonde, big
boned, frank, outspokSl, simple OF
composition, open as the day, bare
headed, her great ropes of sandy hair
falling over her breast and almost to
the top of her knee boots. As he look
ed at the two Wilbur GsSI.z1Sd himselr
where else but in California Could such
abrupt contrasts occur.
"AU right" announced Hoang.
"Catchum all oil, catchum all bone
catchum all same plenty many. You
help catchum, now you catehum pay
Sabe?"
The three principals came to a settle
ment with unprecedented directness.
Like all Cinnamon, Hoang was true 10
his promises and had already set apart
three and a half barrels Of spermaceti'
! fen barrels of oil and some twenty
pounds of bone as the schooner's share
in the transaction. There was no dis
cussion over the matter. He called
their attention to the discharge OF his
obligations and hurried, away to sum
mon his men aboard and get the JUNK
under way again.
The beacheombers returned to their
Junk. and Wilbur and Moran set about
cutting the carcass Of the whale adrift.
They found it would be easier to cut
away the hide from around the hooks
and loops of the tackle than to untas'
ten the tackle itself.
.eThe knots are jammed hard as
steel" declared Moran. Hand up
that cutting-in spade; stand by with
the other and cut loose at the same
time as do, so we can ease on the
strain on these lines at the same time