Our Kanakas, too, were overjoyed to find compatriots among the
visitors, and settled down to a steady stream of talk which
lasted, without intermission, the whole night through. It was a
wonderful exhibition of tongue-wagging, though what it was all
about puzzled me greatly.
Life on board those three ships, though described in glowing
terms by the visitors, was evidently not to be mentioned for
comfort in the same breath as ours. But we found that our late
captain's fame as a "hard citizen" was well known to all; so that
it is only ordinary justice to suppose that such a life as he led
us was exceptional for even a Yankee spouter. Our friends gave
us a blood-curdling account of the Solander whaling ground, which
we were about to visit, the JAMES ARNOLD and CORAL having spent a
season there that cruise. I did not, however, pay much attention
to their yarns, feeling sure that, even if they were fact, it
would not help to brood over coming hardships, and inclined to
give liberal discount to most of their statements. The incessant
chatter, got wearisome at last, and I, for one, was not sorry
when, at two in the morning, our visitors departed to their
several ships, and left us to get what sleep still remained left
to us.
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