Brander came back alongside in due time; and long before he reached the _Sally_, Dan'l could see the exultation in the fourth mate's eyes. As they slid past the bow, Brander's men taunted those who had jeered at them. They were like men who have turned the tables on their enemies....
Dan'l was uneasy.... The boat slid into position, the men hooked on the tackles, then climbed aboard.... They swung on the falls, the boat rose into its cradle.... And Brander turned to Dan'l and said pleasantly:
He pointed into the boat; and Dan'l looked and saw three huge chunks of black and waxy stuff--black, with yellowish tints showing through--and he smelled a faint and musky fragrance. And he looked at Brander. "What is it?" he asked. "What do you think you've found?"
"Ambergris," said Brander. "Three big chunks, four little ones. Close to three hundred pounds...."
One-eyed Mauger chuckled at Brander's back. "And worth three hundred a pound," he cackled. "Worth the smell, Mr. Tobey!"
Brander's find, laid tenderly upon the deck, studied by Noll Wing and the officers on their knees, set the _Sally_ buzzing with the clack of tongues.
There was a romance in the stuff itself that caught attention. It came from the rotting carcass of the greatest thing that lives; it came from the heart of a vast stench.... Yet itself smelled faintly and fragrantly of musk, and had the power of multiplying any other perfume a thousand fold. Not a man on the _Sally_ had ever seen a bit larger than a cartridge, before; they studied it, handled it, marveled at it.
Cap'n Wing stood up stiffly from bending over the stuff at last; he looked at Brander. "It's ugly enough," he said. "You're sure it's the stuff you think?"
"Hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars a pound--price changes."
Noll looked at the waxy stuff again. "It don't look it," he said. "How much is there of it?"
Noll's lips moved with the computation. He said, in a voice that was hushed in spite of himself: "Close to ninety thousand dollars...."
Brander smiled. "That's the maximum, of course."
Dan'l Tobey said: "You've done the rest of us a service, Mr. Brander."
Brander looked at him; and an imp of mischief gleamed in his eye. He said quietly: "The rest of you. I was sent out to remove the carcass, not to dissect it. The digging for this was my private enterprise, Mr. Tobey."