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The others joined him just as he had succeeded in inserting a bit of fresh wick; and soon after a strong flame was established, and a fresh spitful of shark-steaks hung frizzling over it. Nothing more could be done than wait until the meat should be done.
Ben Brace and the boy, convinced by this additional testimony that the Coromantee must have heard something more than the frizzling of the shark-flesh, without saying a word, imitated his example, and eagerly bent their ears to listen. They had not long to wait before becoming convinced that Snowball had heard something besides the spirting of the shark-steaks.
They had kept the fire ablaze by pouring fresh spermaceti into the furnace of flesh which they had constructed, or rather excavated, in the back of the leviathan; and so far as that kind of fuel was concerned, they might have gone on roasting shark-steaks for a twelvemonth.
"I hab den, I hab hear someting." "What?" "Dat I doan know." "It's the frizzlin' o' those shark-steaks; or, maybe, some sea-bird squeaking up in the air." "No, neyder one nor todder. Hush! Massa Brace, I hab hear some soun' 'tirely diffrent, somethin' like de voice ob human man. You obsarb silence. Maybe we hear im agen."
Indeed, to have kindled such a fire as they wanted on the raft, without a proper material for their hearth, would have seriously endangered the existence of the craft; and might have terminated in a conflagration. It was a dilemma that had not suggested itself sooner that is, until the shark-steaks had been made ready for roasting.
The sailor and Snowball exchanged glances of despair. Both had already looked behind them. There, blazing fiercely up, was the fire of spermaceti, with the shark-steaks browning in its flame. In the excitement of the moment they had forgotten all about it.
The harpoons which they had handled with such deadly effect upon the carcass of the cachalot had been there left, sticking up out of the back of the dead leviathan composing that improvised spit erected for roasting the shark-steaks. In short, every article of iron, even to their own knives, which had been thrown loosely into the boat, was now at the bottom of the sea.
The tarry strands caught like tinder; and soon after a fierce bright blaze was seen rising several feet above the back of the cachalot, causing the shark-steaks to frizzle and fry, and promising in a very short space of time to "do them to a turn." Any one who could have witnessed the spectacle from distance, and not understanding its nature, might have fancied that the whale was on fire!
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