Chapter 25

"The forest reels beneath the stroke
Of sturdy woodman's axe;
The earth receives the white man's yoke,
And pays her willing tax
Of fruits, and flowers, and golden harvest fields,
And all that nature to blithe labour yields."

Paulding.

Notwithstanding the great success which attended the beginning of the
whaling, it was six months before the Rancocus was loaded, and ready to
sail for Hamburgh with her cargo. This time the ship went east, at once,
instead of sailing to the westward, as she had previously done--taking
with her a crew composed partly of colonists and partly of Kannakas. Six
boys, however, went in the ship, the children of reputable settlers; all
of whom the governor intended should be officers, hereafter, on board of
colony vessels. To prevent difficulties on the score of national
character, on leaving America the last time, Saunders had cleared for
the islands of the Pacific and a market; meaning to cover his vessel,
let her go where she might, by the latter reservation. This question of
nationality offered a good deal of embarrassment in the long run, and
the council foresaw future embarrassments as connected with the subject;
but, every one of the colonists being of American birth, and America
being then neutral, and all the American-built vessels having American
papers, it was thought most prudent to let things take their natural
course, under the existing arrangement, until something occurred to
render a more decided policy advisable.

As soon as the Rancocus got off, the Henlopen went out again, to cruise
about two hundred leagues to windward; while the inshore fishery was
carried on by Betts, in the Martha, with great spirit and most
extraordinary success. So alive did the people get to be to the profit
and sport of this sort of business, that boats were constructed, and
crews formed all over the colony, there being often as many as a dozen
different parties out, taking whales near the coasts. The _furor_
existed on the Peak, as well as in the low lands, and Bridget and Anne
could not but marvel that men would quit the delicious coolness, the
beautiful groves, and all the fruits and bountiful products of that most
delightful plain, to go out on the ocean, in narrow quarters, and under
a hot sun, to risk their lives in chase of the whale! This did the
colonists, nevertheless, until the governor himself began to feel the
necessity of striking a whale, if he would maintain his proper place in
the public opinion.

As respects the governor, and the other high functionaries of the
colony, some indulgence was entertained; it being the popular notion
that men who lived so much within doors, and whose hands got to be so
soft, were not exactly the sort of