From that day the luck of Mills and his party turned, and they could not try out fast enough.  In four months from the time the ‘Thistle’ left Launceston she had on board two hundred and forty tuns of oil.

In the year 1836, the Hentys had a few cattle running behind the Bluff when Major Mitchell arrived overland from Sydney, and reported good country to the north.  They then brought over more cattle from Launceston, and stocked a station.

The first beast killed by the Hentys for their whalers was a heifer, and the carcase, divided into two parts, was suspended from the flagstaff at their house.  It could be seen from afar by the men who were pulling across the bay in their boats, and they knew that Henty’s men were going to feed on fresh meat, while all the rest were eating such awful stuff as Yankee pork and salt horse.  The very sight of the two sides of the heifer suspended at the flagstaff was an unendurable insult and mockery to the carnivorous whalers, and an incitement to larceny.  Davy Fermaner was steering one of the boats, and he exclaimed:  “There, they are flashing the fresh meat to us.  They would look foolish if they lost it to-night.”

There was feasting and revelry that night at Single Corner.  Hungry men were sharpening their sheath-knives with steel, and cutting up a side of beef.  A large fire was burning, and on the glowing coals, and in every frying-pan rich steaks were fizzing and hissing.  It was like a feast of heroes, and lasted long through the night.  They sang responsively, like gentle shepherds—­shepherds of the ocean fields whose flocks were mighty whales: 

“Mother, the butcher’s brought the meat,
What shall I do with it? 
Fry the flesh, and broil the bones,
And make a pudding of the su-et.”

Next morning the Hentys looked for the missing beef up the flagstaff, and along the shore of the ever-sounding ocean, but their search was vain.  They suspected that the men of Kelly’s party were the thieves, but these all looked as stupid, ignorant, and innocent as the adverse circumstances would permit.  There was no evidence against them to be found; the beef was eaten and the bones were burned and buried.  Mills’ men were the beef lifters, and some of Kelly’s men helped them to eat it.

The whales killed at the Portland fishery were of two kinds, the right or black whale, and the sperm whale.  The right whale has an immense tongue, and lives by suction, the food being a kind of small shrimp.  When in a flurry—­that is, when she has received her death-stroke with the lance—­she goes round in a circle, working with her head and flukes.  The sperm whales feed on squid, which they bite, and when in a flurry they work with the head and flukes, and with the mouth open, and often crush the boats.