登陆注册
4809100000044

第44章 THE SEED OF McCOY.(4)

"Eleven. Let me see, if she keeps up that gait, we'll sight Mangareva between eight and nine o'clock tomorrow morning. I'll have her on the beach by ten or by eleven at latest. And then your troubles will be all over."It almost seemed to the captain that the blissful moment had already arrived, such was the persuasive convincingness of McCoy.

Captain Davenport had been under the fearful strain of navigating his burning ship for over two weeks, and he was beginning to feel that he had had enough.

A heavier flaw of wind struck the back of his neck and whistled by his ears.

He measured the weight of it, and looked quickly overside.

"The wind is making all the time," he announced. "The old girl's doing nearer twelve than eleven right now. If this keeps up, we'll be shortening down tonight."All day the Pyrenees, carrying her load of living fire, tore across the foaming sea. By nightfall, royals and topgallantsails were in, and she flew on into the darkness, with great, crested seas roaring after her. The auspicious wind had had its effect, and fore and aft a visible brightening was apparent.

In the second dog-watch some careless soul started a song, and by eight bells the whole crew was singing.

Captain Davenport had his blankets brought up and spread on top the house.

"I've forgotten what sleep is," he explained to McCoy. "I'm all in. But give me a call at any time you think necessary."At three in the morning he was aroused by a gentle tugging at his arm. He sat up quickly, bracing himself against the skylight, stupid yet from his heavy sleep. The wind was thrumming its war song in the rigging, and a wild sea was buffeting the PYRENEES. Amidships she was wallowing first one rail under and then the other, flooding the waist more often than not. 'mcCoy was shouting something he could not hear. He reached out, clutched the other by the shoulder, and drew him close so that his own ear was close to the other's lips.

"It's three o'clock," came McCoy's voice, still retaining its dovelike quality, but curiously muffled, as if from a long way off. "We've run two hundred and fifty. Crescent Island is only thirty miles away, somewhere there dead ahead. There's no lights on it. If we keep running, we'll pile up, and lose ourselves as well as the ship.""What d' ye think--heave to?"

"Yes; heave to till daylight. It will only put us back four hours."So the Pyrenees, with her cargo of fire, was hove to, bitting the teeth of the gale and fighting and smashing the pounding seas. She was a shell, filled with a conflagration, and on the outside of the shell, clinging precariously, the little motes of men, by pull and haul, helped her in the battle.

"It is most unusual, this gale," McCoy told the captain, in the lee of the cabin. "By rights there should be no gale at this time of the year. But everything about the weather has been unusual. There has been a stoppage of the trades, and now it's howling right out of the trade quarter." He waved his hand into the darkness, as if his vision could dimly penetrate for hundreds of miles. "It is off to the westward. There is something big making off there somewhere--a hurricane or something. We're lucky to be so far to the eastward.

But this is only a little blow," he added. "It can't last. I can tell you that much."By daylight the gale had eased down to normal. But daylight revealed a new danger. It had come on thick. The sea was covered by a fog, or, rather, by a pearly mist that was fog-like in density, in so far as it obstructed vision, but that was no more than a film on the sea, for the sun shot it through and filled it with a glowing radiance.

The deck of the Pyrenees was making more smoke than on the preceding day, and the cheerfulness of officers and crew had vanished. In the lee of the galley the cabin boy could be heard whimpering. It was his first voyage, and the fear of death was at his heart. The captain wandered about like a lost soul, nervously chewing his mustache, scowling, unable to make up his mind what to do.

"What do you think?" he asked, pausing by the side of McCoy, who was making a breakfast off fried bananas and a mug of water.

McCoy finished the last banana, drained the mug, and looked slowly around. In his eyes was a smile of tenderness as he said:

"Well, Captain, we might as well drive as burn. Your decks are not going to hold out forever. They are hotter this morning. You haven't a pair of shoes Ican wear? It is getting uncomfortable for my bare feet."The Pyrenees shipped two heavy seas as she was swung off and put once more before it, and the first mate expressed a desire to have all that water down in the hold, if only it could be introduced without taking off the hatches.

'mcCoy ducked his head into the binnacle and watched the course set.

"I'd hold her up some more, Captain," he said. "She's been making drift when hove to.""I've set it to a point higher already," was the answer. "Isn't that enough?""I'd make it two points, Captain. This bit of a blow kicked that westerly current ahead faster than you imagine."Captain Davenport compromised on a point and a half, and then went aloft, accompanied by McCoy and the first mate, to keep a lookout for land. Sail had been made, so that the Pyrenees was doing ten knots. The following sea was dying down rapidly. There was no break in the pearly fog, and by ten o'clock Captain Davenport was growing nervous. Al l hands were at their stations, ready, at the first warning of land ahead, to spring like fiends to the task of bringing the Pyrenees up on the wind. That land ahead, a surf-washed outer reef, would be perilously close when it revealed itself in such a fog.

Another hour passed. The three watchers aloft stared intently into the pearly radiance."What if we miss Mangareva?" Captain Davenport asked abruptly.

McCoy, without shifting his gaze, answered softly:

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 阿拉德之白夜

    阿拉德之白夜

    “阿拉德大陆,由我来守护!”电脑屏幕前的中二少年,望着画面中宏大的世界,如此宣誓道。许多年后。卑微的平凡青年来到了迥异的阿拉德。“阿拉德,由我来守护!”宏宇般的神殿中,菜鸟冒险家再次宣誓。
  • 武侠之至尊帝王

    武侠之至尊帝王

    先帝驾崩,太子即位、刚登上皇位却发现原来只是冰山一角,七大王朝,百家小国纷纷出现,且看一代少年天子登上皇位,在乱世之终一统天下,成就一代明君,开创太平盛世本故事及人物纯属虚构,如有雷同,纯属巧合切勿模仿。
  • 你不可不知的80个心理定律

    你不可不知的80个心理定律

    日常生活中,我们每说一句话、每做一件事都受到一定的心理状态和心理活动的影响和制约,尽管有时候我们觉察不到。说一个人发脾气、闹情绪,这就是一种心理活动;说一个人洋洋得意、意气风发,这也是一种心理状态;说一个人品行不好、思想消极,这其实还是心理活动的一部分。
  • Two Poets

    Two Poets

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 死亡之旅

    死亡之旅

    高见的公司实行双休日制度。那年秋天,他和同科的女科员矢野绿子建立了亲密的恋爱关系。当时,公司组织青年职员们去东京附近的山区旅游。没料到,他和矢野绿子与公司的团队走散,最后只留下他俩在山区游荡。同事们事后都取笑他们是预先串通好的。其实并非如此,他们确实因走路速度太慢而掉队了。不过,这个意外的机缘却使得两人的关系迅速升温,很快到了谈婚论嫁的地步。
  • 谪星说诗

    谪星说诗

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 诸天穿越者联盟

    诸天穿越者联盟

    “曹孟德同志,我都说了多少遍,你要在赤壁大败一场,让我们的穿越者同志在赤壁打败你曹操,你这样虐他们还让剧本怎么进展下去?”三国世界,纪云气急败坏的对曹操说道。“不是我想赢,是这个穿越者诸葛亮太笨了点,我都放水到这个地步他还赢不了我,这我也没办法?我再放水我曹孟德的人设就崩了?”曹操无奈道。“……这也没办法了,你这边能怎么放水就怎么放水,我给那一边搞一个‘降智光环’,现在也只能这样了,谁让这货太不成器。”为什么很多穿越者明明智商不正常还能有辉煌的成就?就是纪云这样隶属穿越者联盟的穿越者在暗地里给这些穿越者搭桥铺路,让他们尽早成长起来。
  • 论人类不平等的起源和基础

    论人类不平等的起源和基础

    本书采用1876年典藏版法文原著,在此版本上进行翻译。译文尊重卢梭当年应第戎学院征文而执笔的写作原意和部分词汇的专业用法,更加精准流畅。开篇导读,帮助读者对卢梭以及对这部著作进行一个提纲概括式的了解,减轻名著入门难的障碍。本版新增卢梭当时于论文写成后又添加的19个补充注释,使读者更加全面的了解卢梭在写作过程中的哲学思辨,延伸的知识也令本著作更加立体。还收录当年日内瓦著名博物学家博纳(Bonnet)以菲洛普利(Philopolis)的笔名写信反对《论人类不平等的起源和基础》后,卢梭亲自雄辩答复博纳质疑的回信,是值得收藏的经典版本。
  • 外来工

    外来工

    90年代末,掀起了南下打工的高潮,一批又一批的青年男女涌向广东,去寻找各自的梦。春节期间,在外打工的强子回到家中过年,在邻居的请求下,带了四个青年男女到广东打工,从而开始了他们各自不同的人生。文章从多层次、多角度的描写了外来工的青春、人生、爱情、家庭以及他们的子女,展现了繁华大都市下的另一种生活。此书献给辛勤劳作在生产第一线的外来工们!他们,是城市建设的基石;他们,是容易被忽视的群体;他们是——外来工!
  • 天才狂女:王牌太子妃

    天才狂女:王牌太子妃

    刀锋的尖锐刺痛的不是身体而是颤栗的内心,一刀刀的锋利一段段的切割,绝望的眼神埋下仇恨的种子,发芽重生。前世的恨意今世要加倍的偿还,步步为营,势必要贱人尝尽前世之苦,刀刮之痛,剥皮拆骨远远不够。为保家破姨娘下毒之计,为保娘亲与老天爷争夺命运,为保爹爹周全迷惑众人,为保恩师甘受入狱之苦,为保倾心之人上演皇宫争斗计夺权篡位。笑你懦弱无能,笑你痴傻愚笨,笑你用情至深,笑你肝肠寸断,一点点的苦一点点的痛都会加倍偿还。再相见时别亦难,前世的全无交集,今世的相守以伴,包容疼惜不舍复仇的种子却已生根发芽无法去除。绝望的眼神依然深深刺痛着心房,那颗已经随着前世消失的心渐渐的回来了,爱的包容下。