It was of no use to talk to him of whaling; he had work before him, and he must do it.
But the time came when Mr.Gibbs relented.

The Dipsey had sailed around the whole boundary of the polar sea; observations, surveys, and maps had been made, and the general geography of the region had been fairly well determined.

There still remained some weeks of the arctic day, and it was desirable that they should begin their return journey during that time; so Mr.Gibbs informed Captain Jim that if he wanted to do a little whaling, he would like him to lose no time.
Almost from the time of their arrival in the polar sea the subject of whales had greatly interested everybody on the Dipsey.

Even Rovinski, who had been released from his confinement after a few days, because he had really committed no actual crime except that of indulging in overleaping ambition, had spent every available minute of leisure in looking for whales.

It was strange that nothing in this Northern region interested the people on the Dipsey (with the sole exception of Mr.
Gibbs) so much as these great fish, which seemed to be the only visible inhabitants of the polar solitudes.