William H. Macy  Source  Whalesite

We build a City in the wilderness – An interview with "Beauty" – And with "The Beast."

      All is stir and bustle on the three schooners on the morning succeeding our return; for the looked for fair weather has set in, and for the first time since her arrival, it is possible to work the beach. "Up anchor!" is the cry, and we are soon gliding towards our new station near the point, with the "Hippie" and "Adelaide" in company. There is, of course, a high spirit of rivalry between the crews of the different vessels, for each is anxious to have their shanty first built and get the start of the others in the attack upon the sea-elephants. Some precaution is still necessary in beaching a boat, for the heavy breakers raised by the norther have not entirely subsided. But beyond a cold immersion now and then, no harm is done; and the line of beach soon presents an animated appearance, dotted at intervals by the fleet of light craft, and thickly strewn with lumber and casks of provisions, as they are rafted ashore. The various parts of our house are ready for putting together, having been prepared at home before the vessel sailed.

      A site is selected for building, at a considerable distance inland, so as to be somewhat protected under the lee of the high land, and yet sufficiently removed from it to avoid the danger and inconvenience from heavy snowdrifts, should we find it necessary to winter here. We make beasts of burden of ourselves for the time being, and transport the lumber on our shoulders to the spot. Strong and willing hands make rapid progress with the building; an old sail is stretched over the roof, and a few buckets of tar, thickly laid on and thoroughly rubbed in, serves to complete the work. Our habitation lays no claim to architectural beauty; it is enough for us that it' be warm and water-proof.

      Its interior arrangements are simple enough. A little room is divided off for the officers' use, like a counting-room, or office; one end of the building is devoted to the bunks, or standing bed-places, and a few rudely constructed benches serve as seats and tables, A large cooking-stove warms the whole establishment, and thus our headquarters are ready for the campaign. Before night, the provisions are all rolled up and stowed in, and about "The Woodlurk's Nest," as we had already christened the place, the sea-beach has resumed its former wild and deserted aspect; the schooners have returned to their old anchorage in The Bight, and fourteen of us, with a similar number from each of the other vessels, are as thoroughly domiciled as if we had been natives, born and bred here.

      The "Garrick," being a heavy ship, and riding by both anchors on an immense mooring-shackle, did not, of course, get underway; but we had seen her boat pass us in the morning, on her way to the wreck, and were able to distinguish the dumpy, ungraceful figure of Proctor at the steeringoar. Bawlings was not with him, which we thought strange, to say the least. But, in addition to the regular crew at the oars, an unknown man was seated in the bow of the boat. As the brig lay a mile or more below the spot which we had selected for a landing-place, they soon passed out of sight and hearing of us, and busied each with his own affairs, we had no communication with any one of the English party for the day.

      While we were all assembled at supper, Fielding improved the occasion to lay down a few rules for our government, and especially impressed upon us the necessity of caution in our attacks upon the elephants. He was determined to have no wanton destruction, or indiscriminate slaughter. At least nothing of the kind should be commenced by our party with his sanction. If our rivals could not be controlled, we might find it necessary to change our tactics. But so important did ho consider it that the fishing should be regulated so as to economize it, that, for the present, ho forbade any one to kill a single animal, except under his eye, and by bis orders.

      He appointed Dave Bryant and myself as petty officers, and authorized us to take up our quarters in the cabin, as he termed his small room, partitioned off from the rest.

      Fatigued as we all were with the exertions of the day, we were not slow to avail ourselves of the opportunity to turn in under a warm roof, with an unwonted feeling of delight that we had no night watch to stand on the wet, cheerless deck of the little schooner; and all was dark and quiet within the Nest at an early hour. The remains of the glowing fire in the stove diffused a grateful warmth through the cosy little apartment, and the murmuring of the now gentle breakers on the shore, blending with the more distant voices of the penguins at the Rookery, fell soothingly upon our senses; and soon no other sound could be heard in our dwelling. I was roused about midnight by Fielding, whom I found fully armed and equipped for a tramp.

      "Come, Joe," said he," let's have a cruise down on the point, and see if we can't kill enough before day, to make a day's work for the rest."

      I Needed no second invitation, and within two minutes wc were stepping briskly off in the night air, with our jackets buttoned up to the chin, each with a sharp lance across his shoulder, and a well-charged pipe in his mouth. We struck a bee-line for the water-side, and then coasted it down to the south-east, meeting now and then with a stout, glossy young bull, and quietly letting his life-blood out into the sand. Putting our mark upon them, in the form of a letter W, cut lightly into the blubber near the tail, with a butcher-knife, we passed onward, directing our eyes at the meetingline of surface and shore; for the animal is rarely, if ever, seen outside the roller, but makes his first appearance suddenly, as his flippers strike the ground, and his muzzle and shoulders are lifted in bold relief above the foam and swash of the undertow.

      Very few were lying on the beach at this time, it being the habit of the animal to come ashore toward morning. About daybreak is usually considered the most favorable time in the twenty-four hours to be watching the beach.

      A fine specimen was slaughtered nearly under the bows of the "Daphne," having been hidden from sight by the casks and lumber until we were close upon him. The brig was now lying high and dry, a litle inclined inshore, with tackles up over her hatchway and nearly all her cargo landed.

      "I see no one moving on deck," said Fielding. "They probably don't consider it necessary to keep a regular watch, but I should suppose they would not desert her altogether, yet. There is a fine chance for plunder, especially, if, as I think, there is plenty of liquor among her stores." "But where is their house?" I asked. "Probably they have built up hereaway," pointing in the direction of the Rookery; "but we cannot see it against that dark background."

      "See, here is a boat hauled up just astern of the wreck."

      "Yes; and I suppose from that circumstance that Captain Pioctor and his crew must still be on shore, as the brig's boats were destroyed when she was wrecked."

      "Is that you, Mr. Fielding?" hailed a voice from the taffrail, as the figure of a man rose into view.' "Come aboard!"

      "Captain McDougal!" we both exclaimed. And in a moment we had climbed on deck, and were exchanging hearty greetwith the fine old seaman."

      "Are you alone, in charge?" was the surprised inquiry of Mr. Fielding.

      "Not exactly, for my daughter is with me," he said. Captain Proctor is up at the house, and Mr. Martin with him. The rum was circulating freely, and as they are even more disagreeable in their cups than when sober, I chose to pass the night here. Come, let's go below, where it is comfortable."

      "And who is Mr. Martin?"

      "He is the second mate of the "Garrick," who has been brought ashore to act as my lieutenant, much against my wishes, as I take him to be a creature of the captain's, placed here as a spy and mischief-maker. He is going to keep Mr. Rawlings, the best sealer among us, and shipped expressly as 'beach-header,' on board the bark, so he says."

      "But are you and Rawlings obliged to submit to such an arrangement?"

      "I suppose so. Proctor says he is admiral and commander-in-chief of the expedition; will be answerable to the owners for his conduct, and all that sort of thing. He took his boat's crew down on the Point and killed elephants all the afternoon, in spite of remonstrance on my part; for, unless some judgment is used about this business, it will soon be good for nothing to any of us. Says he is going to set all hands to killing in the morning, though there are more lying dead at this inomeut than we can skin and take care of for three or four days to come."

      "I must see him about that," said Fielding. "I suppose he will listen to reason.'"

      "I am not so sure that he will, even from you," returned the captain. "He is the most unreasonably selfish mar. that I ever knew."

      "I will have a talk with him before he turns his murderers to work; that is, if he is sober enough to talk to. By the way, how much liquor had you on board the brig?"

      "Ten barrels," answered McDougal, "and I fear we shall have trouble with it. Like fire, it is a very good servant, but a bad master. It would have been useful under proper regulation, but here, on the beach, it will be next to impossible to control it."

      "Well, it does seem like a large-sized elephant on your hands," assented the young man. "I'm glad I haven't got that quantity to take care of. If I had, I should be tempted to dispose of it," he added, significantly.

      The captain nodded with a look of intelligence, and dropped the subject.

      We filled and lighted our pipes for a fresh start, McDougal requesting us to stop on our return up the beach in the morning, when he hoped his daughter would see us.

      "She would be delighted to meet you both," he said, "for she can never forget her obligation on the morning of the shipwreck. Caroline is"

      "Here, to make her acknowledgments in person," said the musical voice, as she appeared, like a bright vision, from her stateroom, gliding with the step of a practiced sailor on the inclined deck, and extending a hand to each of us. "I am as pleased as I know my father is, to meet you again, and hope to see you often when we are settled at 'Daphne Cottage,' as I shall call it, notwithstanding the captain has already christened it in a full bumper, ' Proctor Hall.' in honor of himself."

      "He is not likely to forget himself, on any occasion, judging from the little I have seen of him," said I.

      "By no means," she replied. "He can decline ego through all the changes, supplying even the vocative, which was wanting in our grammars."

      "Pleasant company for a young lady," observed Fielding.

      "Very. I know that he has a special regard for me, from the simple fact that I am a woman. He did not fail to let it appear at our first interview. But no matter," she added, as if fearing she had already said too much, "let him do what he pleases, so long as he does not attempt to separate me from father. I hope Dave Bryant is well?" she added, changing the theme.

      We said nothing of the scene between Proctor and Rawlings on board the " Woodlark," though I meant she should know, all in good time, of the mate's gallant championship of her honor. We took our leave of the young lady and her father, and sallied forth again into the darkness. We occasionally met with a stout bull, which we killed and marked, but paid no heed to the young pups, which were quite numerous, but of little value, as respected the yield of oil to be obtained from them. When near the "Main Yard"—for the spar of which mention has been made, as well as everything else, either natural or artificial, that broke the monotony of the scene, soon became recognized by all on the beach as bearing geographical names: as the Galley, the Gulchway, the Wreck, the Rookery, the Pond, and the Barrel—we came upon the victims of Proctor's massacre, to the number of perhaps two hundred, large and small, mingled indiscriminately. With the characteristic selfishness of the man, which extended even to very small matters, they were all marked with the letter P, thus using his own initial rather than that of his ship.

      "If he is going to play this game," said Fielding, " all the rest will have to do the same, in self-defence, as it were. We must pitch in wherever we can find them thickest. But it is rascally to murder all these little pups, when there are enough large ones to serve us all, if the fishing is properly managed, so as not to frighten them off from their favorite haunts. Very few elephants will ' haul' near this spot, and a few more grand attacks like this will drive them all over to the sou'-west beach."

      Taking the back track along the shore, we had made up about forty prizes before daylight, which we thought as many as we could secure that day, as they were scattered over a considerable extent of ground. We fell in with several marked with a P, which had been killed since we passed the spot on our way down, and quickening our steps, we overtook two of the " Ripple's" party, one of whom was Burdick, the leader.

      "Burdick, how do you mark your game?" was the first question of Fielding.

      "P, for 'Phaeton,'" he replied. "The ship's name."

      "But don't you know that Proctor is marking his in the same way? He has killed a young million of them down on the Point there, pups and all, and cut a P on them."

      "The d––l he has! Who'd ha' thought of his using his own name? Jackson," he added, to his companion, "you go back along the beach, and alter the mark of ours. Cut a tail to the P so as to make it an R. We'll use the name of the schooner."

      Jackson left us to obey his orders, and we three struck into the Gulchway and followed it up a short distance, where we soon came upon further evidence of the Englishman's wanton barbarity. Very few bulls frequented this ravine, but it was the favorite resort of the little ones, who crept up here to revel in the stream of fresh water, and here we found more than a hundred young pups killed, and marked with the everlasting P.

      "There's no danger that I'll ever use that mark again," said Burdick, "for I'm ashamed of it. This Proctor ought to be hunted off the beach by a vigilance committee. He has come here to ruin the business."

      "Let's go up and seethe man," suggested Fielding, " and reason with him.-"

      "Well, lead on," returned the other, "though I can't think there's much reason in a man who will murder a hundred little pups that are not worth the skinning."

      "Proctor Hall," or, as I prefer to call it by Carrie McDougal's name, " Daphne Cottage," was not very happily located, we thought, for a winter residence. It was built too near the base of a steep bluff, just in the spot where the whirling eddies would be likely to accumulate a snow-drift of great depth, and was, also, unpleasantly near to the deafening noise from the Rookery. All this, however, as we afterwards learned, was due to the officious interference of Proctor, who had ordered it changed from the original site selected by McDougal and Rawlings. The shanty was larger, however, and its internal accommodations better than those of the American ones.

      We found Alexander the Great just taking his morning bitters, by way of "tapering off." His natural ugliness was intensified somewhat by the effect of his potations the night before. Mai tin, a little, monkey-faced youth, who looked and acted as if ready to swear black was white at the bidding of the magnate, was more than half stupefied from the same cause. Fielding lost no time in idle parley, but came at once to the point.

      "Captain Proctor, I take it those are your elephants down by the Main Yard, marked P?"

      "Yes," growled the beauty. "What then?"

      "They were killed by you, I believe, or, at least, under your own eye, and against the advice of Captain McDougal?"

      Proctor was, for a moment, staggered by the audacity of his questioner; but, recovering himself, answered, with a drunken stare:—

      "Yes, they were. What of it? What has the advice of Captain McDougal to do with it, when I am ashore, myself?"

      "Sure enough," put in Burdick. "Why has any one the presumption to live and breathe at all, except yourself?"

      "I am not accountable, I suppose, to anybody for having killed some elephants." roared Proctor, excitedly. "This is a highway, I believel I am not trespassing! I have as good right as you or anybody else! I'm able to maintain it, too! " he continued, rising unsteadily on his feet in a frenzy of drunken wrath.

      But the young man was not to be daunted by this display of bravado.

      "No one wishes to dispute your equal right, Captain Proctor," he went on, " only to remonstrate against a course that will injure your own interests, in the long run, as well as ours. Captain McDougal well knows how necessary it is to work carefully with these animals, if we would have the business profitable through the season. He and I. and Mr. Burdick, intended to bind ourselves by a mutual agreement, to kill a limited number each night, as many as we could take care of next day, and to do it carefully and quietly, so as not to drive the rest away: also not to kill these helpless little pups, while there are enough large ones to give all of us a good voyage."

      "Is that all you have to say? Well, I shall kill what I please. I'll kill it when I please, and in what manner I please! I'm not to be dictated to by a couple of boys; and as for McDougal—Captain McDsugal, forsooth! Fll teach him who's captain here! him and his doll of a daughter, too—eh, Mr. Martin."

      "If you will not hear to reason, then," said Fielding, " nor abide by any agreement, we shall all be obliged to go ahead and work against each other. But the beach will be worked out before the season is half up, and the animals will be killed faster than they can be taken care of, and thus many of them will be no benefit to any one."

      "What are you going to do with all those little pups you killed in the Gulchway?" demanded Burdick. "Not to make oil of them, surely, for there's nothing in them but milk."

      "None of your business! I'll do what I please with 'em, if my mark is on 'em. I killed 'em, myself, I, Aleck Proctor! Who are you, anyhow?" he sneered.

      "Who am I, you want to know?" said the young man. "My name's Burdick, mate of the schooner ' Bipple,' of New London, and I can take the starch out of you in five minutes, if you were a dozen Aleck Proctors. I'll hold you responsible for every pup that's killed on this beach, and if there's no other satisfaction to be got, I'll take it out of your hide!"

      "Go out of my premises, sir! An Englishman's house is his castle!"

      "I'll knock spots out of you, if you kill any more pups, you and your little satellite there, Mr. Martin! I'd wipe him off the face of the earth with one clip! I know McDougal's men won't kill 'em without orders from one of you two."

      "There. Come away, Burdick," said Fielding. "We're only wasting words."

      "I know I was a fool to get excited," he answered, after we got outside, "but I've said it, and I'll make my words good. Let him try to bully me, if he thinks it will pay."

Source:

W. H. Macy
"Beyond Desolation - No. VI."
      Flag of Our Nation.
Vol.24, No.35, (Aug 28, 1869)
p.558.

William H. Macy  Source  Whalesite