The voyages were to be settled on the following day, so I told my parents that, before officers and crew separated, there were three of our number whom I desired to invite to the house, and they approved my purpose. I made search that morning for Lakeum. Again I wanted to press him to come to our home. I could get no trace of him. At last I bethought me of the shipkeeper. “Bleechly,” he said, “Lakeum’s gone and left a power of attorney with a friend to settle his voyage. From what he said I think it likely that he’ll never go whaling again.” Thus this man, who had been such a true friend to me, and who had won the esteem of all the men under him for nearly three years, passed out of my life. I never saw him or heard of him again. I found Kreelman in an outfitter’s establishment and I urged him to honor our home with his presence at supper that evening. He seemed touched and voiced his thanks most courteously but declined my invitation. Then I looked up Ohoo and found him in a sailor’s boarding house in the company of some questionable-looking individuals. I called him to one side and extended an invitation to supper. “Me go, me tank ’ou,” he replied. When I introduced him to my mother, in the afternoon, she observed, “My son has told me how kind your family were to him in their home in Honolulu, and now we are only too glad to have you in our little home here in New Bedford.” “Me tank ’ou. Me sing and dance.” Ohoo conducted himself at our humble table with credit. His manners were better than those of many people of opportunities and education. In the evening he sang some of his quaint and weird native songs, and he indulged in dances which caused merriment and won applause. Just before he left my father cautioned him as to the care of the money he was soon to receive, and suggested that the savings bank take care of it during his absence on the next voyage. As a fact, the counsel later was followed, and, when Ohoo went to sea again, a goodly sum was standing to his credit in the institution my father named. CHAPTER XVII SETTLING THE VOYAGE On the following morning, my attention was called to an article in the local newspaper declaring the voyage of the _Seabird_ to be the most remarkable, if not the most profitable, in the history of whaling. The find of ambergris was pronounced to be without a parallel, and the announcement was made that gold watches were offered as prizes—one to the man who first sighted the largest bowhead that was captured, and the other to the man who first saw the largest sperm whale which was also taken. The article proceeded: