We departed the ground without seeing Marbonna; and previous to
vaulting over the picket, feed our pretty guide after a fashion of
our own. Looking round a few moments after, we saw the damsel
escorted back by two men, who seemed to have been sent after her. I
trust she received nothing more than a reprimand.
The next day Po-Po informed us that strict orders had been issued to
admit no strangers within the palace precincts.
CHAPTER LXXXII.
WHICH ENDS THE BOOK
DISAPPOINTED in going to court, we determined upon going to sea. It
would never do, longer to trespass on Po-Po's hospitality; and then,
weary somewhat of life in Imeeo, like all sailors ashore, I at last
pined for the billows.
Now, if her crew were to be credited, the Leviathan was not the craft
to our mind. But I had seen the captain, and liked him. He was an
uncommonly tall, robust, fine-looking man, in the prime of life.
There was a deep crimson spot in the middle of each sunburnt cheek,
doubtless the effect of his sea-potations. He was a Vineyarder, or
native of the island of Martha's Vineyard (adjoining Nantucket), and
- I would have sworn it - a sailor, and no tyrant.
Previous to this, we had rather avoided the Leviathan's men, when they
came ashore; but now, we purposely threw ourselves in their way, in
order to learn more of the vessel.
We became acquainted with the third mate, a Prussian, and an old
merchant-seaman - a right jolly fellow, with a face like a ruby. We
took him to Po-Po's, and gave him a dinner of baked pig and
breadfruit; with pipes and tobacco for dessert. The account he gave
us of the ship agreed with my own surmises. A cosier old craft never
floated; and the captain was the finest man in the world. There was
plenty to eat, too; and, at sea, nothing to do but sit on the windlass
and sail. The only bad trait about the vessel was this: she had been
launched under some baleful star; and so was a luckless ship in the
fishery. She dropped her boats into the brine often enough, and they
frequently got fast to the whales; but lance and harpoon almost
invariably "drew" when darted by the men of the Leviathan. But what of
that? We would have all the sport of chasing the monsters, with none
of the detestable work which follows their capture. So, hurrah for
the coast of Japan! Thither the ship was bound.
A word now about the hard stories we heard the first time we visited
the ship. They were nothing but idle fictions, got up by the sailors
for the purpose of frightening us away, so as to oblige the captain,
who was in want of more hands, to lie the longer in a pleasant
harbour.
