Then they went on again , till they began to see the peak of Jan Mayen 's Land , standing-up like a white sugar-loaf , two miles above the clouds . And there they fell in with a whole flock of molly-mocks , who were feeding on a dead whale . `` These are the fellows to show you the way , '' said Mother Carey 's chickens ; `` we can not help you farther north . We do n't like to get among the ice pack , for fear it should nip our toes : but the mollys dare fly anywhere . '' So the petrels called to the mollys : but they were so busy and greedy , gobbling and peeking and spluttering and fighting over the blubber , that they did not take the least notice . `` Come , come , '' said the petrels , `` you lazy greedy lubbers , this young gentleman is going to Mother Carey , and if you do n't attend on him , you wo n't earn your discharge from her , you know . '' `` Greedy we are , '' says a great fat old molly , `` but lazy we ai n't ; and , as for lubbers , we 're no more lubbers than you . Let 's have a look at the lad . '' And he flapped right into Tom 's face , and stared at him in the most impudent way -LRB- for the mollys are audacious fellows , as all whalers know -RRB- , and then asked him where he hailed from , and what land he sighted last . And , when Tom told him , he seemed pleased , and said he was a good plucked one to have got so far . `` Come along , lads , '' he said to the rest , `` and give this little chap a cast over the pack , for Mother Carey 's sake . We 've eaten blubber enough for to-day , and we 'll e ` en work out a bit of our time by helping the lad . '' So the mollys took Tom up on their backs , and flew off with him , laughing and joking -- and oh , how they did smell of train oil ! `` Who are you , you jolly birds ? '' asked Tom . `` We are the spirits of the old Greenland skippers -LRB- as every sailor knows -RRB- , who hunted here , right whales and horse-whales , full hundreds of years agone . But , because we were saucy and greedy , we were all turned into mollys , to eat whale 's blubber all our days . But lubbers we are none , and could sail a ship now against any man in the North seas , though we do n't hold with this new-fangled steam . And it 's a shame of those black imps of petrels to call us so ; but because they 're her grace 's pets , they think they may say anything they like . '' `` And who are you ? ''
asked Tom of him , for he saw XXXXX he was the king of all the birds .
above against as at because from in that to with