Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/109

88 we decided that it was a whale-boat with dark-coloured sails, and approaching us. Nearer and nearer it came, though yet far off; for when I had first seen it, refraction had made the small sails loom up higher even than those of a 300-ton vessel. By this time every one on board was anxiously looking to the strange boat, wondering what it was, coming from a direction seaward. After watching it more than an hour, we noticed that the sail was taken down, and soon afterward we lost sight of the boat entirely. In vain our glasses were pointed in the direction she was last seen. Nothing could be observed of her, and many began to think we had been deceived by refraction; but at length the captain exclaimed, 'I can now see the boat, though a mere speck. I should not wonder if it is one of my own left here on the last voyage, and manned by Esquimaux.' I looked long and attentively. At last I saw the flash of oars following each stroke, as the dazzling rays of a western sun fell upon the uplifted blades. I could see nothing else but these oars, and to me it seemed as if the rowers were pulling quickly—desperately. The excitement now became great among us, especially as the distance decreased between the boat and the ship. Captain B thought it was an Esquimaux crew, and Mr. Rogers said the men were white.

"As they neared, it struck me that the rowers—now to be seen more clearly—might be some shipwrecked mariners pulling for dear life; and to ascertain this, the ship was deadened in her way. In a few moments more the strange boat was near enough to make her crew out for white men, nine in number; and directly they got alongside, a question was put by Captain B as to who they were. The steersman promptly answered, 'Crew from the Ansell Gibbs, of New Bedford.' In reply to another question, he said, 'We are from the north, and bound to the south.' This was enough to satisfy us that they were runaways.

"In a few minutes a variety of questions was put as to the number of ships, the whaling, &c. in Northumberland Inlet, where we conjectured the Ansell Gibbs to be; and then the