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So the mollys took Tom up on their backs, and flew off with him, laughing and joking and oh, how they did smell of train oil! "Who are you, you jolly birds?" asked Tom. But, because we were saucy and greedy, we were all turned into mollys, to eat whale's blubber all our days.
"A lucky voyage to you, lad," said the mollys; "we knew you were one of the right sort. So good-bye." "Why don't you come too?" asked Tom. But the mollys only wailed sadly, "We can't go yet, we can't go yet," and flew away over the pack. So Tom dived under the great white gate which never was opened yet, and went on in black darkness, at the bottom of the sea, for seven days and seven nights.
We've eaten blubber enough for to-day, and we'll e'en work out a bit of our time by helping the lad." So the mollys took Tom up on their backs, and flew off with him, laughing and joking and oh, how they did smell of train oil! And now they came to the edge of the pack, and beyond it they could see Shiny Wall looming, through mist, and snow, and storm.
Then they went on again, till they began to see the peak of Jan Mayen's Land, standing up like a white sugar loaf, two miles above the clouds. "These are the fellows to show you the way," said Mother Carey's chickens; "we cannot help you farther north. We don't like to get among the ice pack, for fear it should nip our toes; but the mollys dare fly anywhere."
But the good mollys took Tom and his dog up, and flew with them safe over the pack and the roaring ice giants, and set them down at the foot of Shiny Wall. "And where is the gate?" asked Tom. "There is no gate," said the mollys. "No gate?" cried Tom, aghast.
But I was a hard man in my time, that's truth, and stole the poor Indians off the coast of Maine, and sold them for slaves down in Virginia; and at last I was so cruel to my sailors, here in these very seas, that they set me adrift in an open boat, and I never was heard of more. So now I'm the king of all mollys, till I've worked out my time."
But the mollys only wailed sadly, "We can't go yet, we can't go yet," and flew away over the pack. So Tom dived under the great white gate which never was opened yet, and went on in black darkness, at the bottom of the sea, for seven days and seven nights. And yet he was not a bit frightened. Why should he be? He was a brave English lad, whose business is to go out and see all the world.
So the petrels called to the mollys; but they were so busy and greedy, gobbling and packing and spluttering and fighting over the blubber, that they did not take the least notice. "Come, come," said the petrels, "you lazy, greedy lubbers, this young gentleman is going to Mother Carey, and if you don't attend to him, you won't earn your discharge from her, you know."
But the pack rolled horribly upon the swell, and the ice giants fought and roared, and leapt upon each other's backs, and ground each other to powder, so that Tom was afraid to venture among them, lest he should be ground to powder too. But the good mollys took Tom and his dog up, and flew with them safe over the pack and the roaring ice giants, and set them down at the foot of Shiny Wall.
We don't like to get among the ice pack, for fear it should nip our toes: but the mollys dare fly anywhere." So the petrels called to the mollys: but they were so busy and greedy, gobbling and peeking and spluttering and fighting over the blubber, that they did not take the least notice.
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