In his roll down
the cliff he had been without his trousers, which would have been
some protection to him. Consequently, his thighs were deeply cut
and torn in many places, while the brine entering so many wounds,
though a grand styptic, must have tortured him unspeakably. At
any rate, though he was a regular stoic to bear pain, he fainted
while I was "dressing him down" in the most vigorous language I
could command for his foolhardy trick. Then we all realized what
he must be going through, and felt that he was getting all the
punishment he deserved, and more. The goat, poor thing! seemed
none the worse for her rough handling.
The mate gave the signal to get back on board just as Polly
revived, so there were no inconvenient questions asked, and we
returned alongside in triumph, with such a cargo of fish as would
have given us a good month's pay all round could we have landed
them at Billingsgate. Although the mate had not succeeded as
well as we, the catch of the two boats aggregated half a ton, not
a fish among the lot less than five pounds weight, and one of a
hundred and twenty--the yellow-tail aforesaid. As soon as we
reached the ship, the boats were run up, sails filled, and away
we lumbered again towards New Zealand.
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