“‘And lose your ile?’ suggested one fellow. “‘And die of the cholery, among rig’lar heathens,’ said the carpenter. ‘No, no, Jack; I’ll teach you a better way nor that. Ye see, lads, while the spurrit sticks to her end of the ship—’ “Here the ship’s bell struck one, and I went aft at once. Not a soul was to be seen, though I walked up on the raised deck, and then straight down to the wheel, above which the clapper of the bell hung, without the least motion that I could perceive. I was puzzled myself, and as for the fellows in the galley, they never stirred for the ten minutes which I stood there, by the watch in the binnacle. At length, one of the boldest made shift to get as far as the mainmast, when, seeing me in my shirt-sleeves, he took fright and ran for’ard again. I then went below, more than half-inclined to leave the ship myself, from what I heard; but determined, nevertheless, to search the cabins myself, on the very first occasion before we went to sea. “The next morning we went on bending new sails fore and aft, the captain going on shore in the canoe after breakfast. “He had not been gone an hour, when a barge came off to the ship, with the Sultan himself, the Ouale[9] of Muscat, and a few officers of his household—among the rest my sable friend, Hadji Hemet, looking blacker than a _fetisheer_, under a new Syrian turban, with a jeweled _krungar_ hanging at his girdle, and pearls of price in his ears. Though they took us by surprise, I had the sides manned, and the ship’s guns fired, and after showing Syed Ben Seeyd down into the cabin, where, to my annoyance, the steward was not to be found, at the request of the sultan—after apologizing for the absence of the captain—I showed him and his officers through the ship. He seemed particularly interested in the examination of the instruments used in capturing the whale, and paid great attention to the construction of the boats, asking many questions through the interpreter, most of which I left the second mate to answer. When we returned to the long cabin, the steward had the doors of the after one thrown open, the decks swept, and the dead-lights up. After partaking slightly of the refreshments prepared, and making some inquiry into the amount of capital invested in the whaling interests in the United States, the party went into the after-cabin, where their attention was immediately fixed on the two ship-models on the transom. While they were examining these, I tried the doors of the state-rooms. That on the starboard aftermost side was locked, the captain, as the steward said, having the key in his possession.