Our captain fixed his gaze on the stranger; the expression of anger left his face; his lips just parted; his eyes sparkled. Then he muttered, “I can hardly believe it.” But he did seem to believe it, for he called out, “Is that you, Gates? I thought you was in New Bedford.” “Well, Gamans, I knew you wasn’t there, but I didn’t expect to see you here. I thought you was in the Arctic this season.” “I was last year, but where did you come from, Gates?” “I’m master of the _Oriole_, the old ship you and I were boat-steerers in some years ago. And there she is, bearing down on us. But what’s this row about?” “Your mate is laying claim to my whale. We struck him a while ago and the lines parted. Then we followed him up with all speed and when we got here we found that your mate’s boat had put irons in him, and the whale didn’t turn over until after we arrived.” “Can you show your irons in him?” “I can, if I have a chance.” There was a laugh all around, and the mate of the _Oriole_ seemed to assent to the merriment, for a faint smile lighted his countenance. “I’ll give you the chance,” Gates responded. The two captains examined the leviathan, and, sure enough, there were two fresh irons in the whale with a short piece of warp attached to each. We laid on our oars, awaiting the result. Captain Gamans examined the harpoons carefully and then, turning to Captain Gates, said, “There’s our cypher stamped in each of them.” Captain Gamans maintained that the case came within the usage acknowledged and followed by whalemen. Captain Gates replied, “I don’t know but it does, Gamans, but I can’t give up that whale for old friendship’s sake. I have my owners to look out for as well as officers and crew. It seems as if our men did some of the killing. Be that as it may, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. You take the whale and then we’ll gam this evening and draw up some kind of an agreement which shall state all the facts to satisfy our owners, and which may be evidence in court, if the case can’t be settled in any other way. I want to see your ship, for I’ve never been in her before. But you know the _Oriole_ of old, so I’m going to invite myself aboard of your vessel.” “Good,” said Captain Gamans. Then he continued earnestly, “What’s the news from home?” “The chief news is the war.” “What war?” “The Civil War.” “I didn’t know that war could be civil. I thought it was pretty uncivil.” “Don’t you know there’s war between the North and the South?” “What do you mean?” “Why, the southern States have left the country—that is, they haven’t cleared out, but have left the government and set up one of their own. Each side has armies, and there’s fighting going on.” “I declare,” said Captain Gamans. “This is the first time we’ve heard of it. We learned that a man named Lincoln was elected President, but the war’s a surprise.”