The Stolen Heart by Jacinta Carey Read Free Book Online Page A

inspected for ambergris, the
    incredibly valuable waxy yellow substance inside some whales which
    was used in the perfume industry, and worth four times its own
    weight in gold.
     
     
He had never seen a giant squid himself, but he knew they existed
    from this evidence, and was fascinated by the creature he hunted for
    a living.
     
     
It was while the whales were on the surface completing a special
    breathing cycle that the whalemen would sneak up behind them,
    bringing the boats in so close that they actually touched the huge
    backs. ‘Wood on blackskin’ was what they commonly called it.
     
     
Some of the whales were the length of his own three-masted,
    ninety-foot ship, he thought in awe. No matter how many times he saw
    a whale, he did not take them for granted, nor underestimate the
    danger of what he was undertaking.
     
     
Ever since the story of the Essex , attacked and sunk by a
    sperm whale, had hit the newspapers in the United States many years
    before, every whaler captain with any ounce of sense had to pause
    and wonder if it could indeed happen to them.
     
     
But most of the time the main danger was to the three whaleboats,
    rather than the entire ship itself. There the dangers were all too
    common.
     
     
But not today, Jared decided.
     
     
It was a glorious day, these were their first whales of the season,
    and life was good aboard the Trident . He had a superb crew
    with him, for the most part, especially Perkins the second mate and
    little Al, his new friend.
     
     
And truth be told, they couldn't afford to fail. They desperately
    needed oil to cook and heat the ship as they rounded the frigid Horn
    in the next few weeks. Today they were going to get it.
     
     
He signaled to the boatsteerer Mr. Wright. The man put all his
    considerable weight and strength behind his weapons. He thrust down
    hard twice with his great irons, penetrating the thick blubber as
    best he could with the razor-sharp harpoons.
     
     
The whale shuddered for a moment and then took off swimming. Within
    ten seconds the line was hurtling out of the tub, and they were
    picking up speed in the boat.
     
     
“Nothing like a Nantucket sleigh-ride,” Jared laughed to one of the
    men as he cautiously made his way to the front, swapping places with
    the boatsteerer.
     
     
Jared moved to the bow of the boat, the better to see the line. He
    had his axe at the ready to cut it in case anything happened to make
    him fear for the safety of the small craft. Anything could go wrong:
    a man overboard, an injury, a sounding whale trying to drag them
    under.
     
     
And of course, the further they got dragged away from the Trident, the more danger there was. It was a big ocean, and they had to make
    their way back to the ship no matter what.
     
     
Otherwise it would be like hunting for a needle in a haystack, for
    the whale could go in one direction for miles, or swerve all over
    the Atlantic or Pacific erratically. The bigger beasts could go as
    fast as twenty-five miles an hour, leaving them a long pull back.
     
     
He certainly didn’t want one of those today. He knew the men were a
    bit out of practice, and he was eager to get back to the ship. He
    wanted to see Al and share his impressions of the hunt with him, and
    give him the gold which was to be his reward for spotting the first
    whale of the voyage.
     
     
He tamped down his irritation with the first mate for not believing
    Al. He hadn't even bothered to look for himself to see if the boy
    had been correct and really had seen a whale.
     
     
He didn't like friction amongst his crew, and the boy would never
    learn if he wasn't taught. But he had performed his task perfectly. What was there to complain about?
     
     
Jared chewed over their conflict as he sat in the boat waiting for
    the whale to tire, getting soaked to the skin as the waves churned
    up by the leviathan crashed into the little thirty-foot boat.
     
     
He picked up one of the bailers and began to try