登陆注册
4809100000045

第45章 THE SEED OF McCOY.(5)

"Why, let her drive, captain. That is all we can do. All the Paumotus are before us. We can drive for a thousand miles through reefs and atolls. We are bound to fetch up somewhere.""Then drive it is." Captain Davenport evidenced his intention of descending to the deck. "We've missed Mangareva. God knows where the next land is. I wish I'd held her up that other half-point," he confessed a moment later. "This cursed current plays the devil with a navigator.""The old navigators called the Paumotus the Dangerous Archipelago," McCoy said, when they had regained the poop. "This very current was partly responsible for that name.""I was talking with a sailor chap in Sydney, once," said Mr. Konig. "He'd been trading in the Paumotus. He told me insurance was eighteen per cent. Is that right?"McCoy smiled and nodded.

"Except that they don't insure," he explained. "The owners write off twenty per cent of the cost of their schooners each year.""My God!" Captain Davenport groaned. "That makes the life of a schooner only five years!" He shook his head sadly, murmuring, "Bad waters! Bad waters!"Again they went into the cabin to consult the big general chart; but the poisonous vapors drove them coughing and gasping on deck.

"Here is Moerenhout Island," Captain Davenport pointed it out on the chart, which he had spread on the house. "It can't be more than a hundred miles to leeward.""A hundred and ten." 'mcCoy shook his head doubtfully. "It might be done, but it is very difficult. I might beach her, and then again I might put her on the reef. A bad place, a very bad place.""We'll take the chance," was Captain Davenport's decision, as he set about working out the course.

Sail was shortened early in the afternoon, to avoid running past in the night;and in the second dog-watch the crew manifested its regained cheerfulness.

Land was so very near, and their troubles would be over in the morning.

But morning broke clear, with a blazing tropic sun. The southeast trade had swung around to the eastward, and was driving the PYRENEES through the water at an eight-knot clip. Captain Davenport worked up his dead reckoning, allowing generously for drift, and announced Moerenhout Island to be not more than ten miles off. The Pyrenees sailed the ten miles; she sailed ten miles more; and the lookouts at the three mastheads saw naught but the naked, sun-washed sea.

"But the land is there, I tell you," Captain Davenport shouted to them from the poop.

McCoy smiled soothingly, but the captain glared about him like a madman, fetched his sextant, and took a chronometer sight.

"I knew I was right, he almost shouted, when he had worked up the observation.

"Twenty-one, fifty-five, south; one-thirty-six, two, west. There you are.

We're eight miles to windward yet. What did you make it out, Mr. Konig?"The first mate glanced at his own figures, and said in a low voice:

"Twenty-one, fifty-five all right; but my longitude's one-thirty-six, forty-eight. That puts us considerably to leeward--"But Captain Davenport ignored his figures with so contemptuous a silence as to make Mr. Konig grit his teeth and curse savagely under his breath.

"Keep her off," the captain ordered the man at the wheel. "Three points--steady there, as she goes!"Then he returned to his figures and worked them over. The sweat poured from his face. He chewed his mustache, his lips, and his pencil, staring at the figures as a man might at a ghost. Suddenly, with a fierce, muscular outburst, he crumpled the scribbled paper in his fist and crushed it under foot. 'mr.

Konig grinned vindictively and turned away, while Captain Davenport leaned against the cabin and for half an hour spoke no word, contenting himself with gazing to leeward with an expression of musing hopelessness on his face.

"Mr. McCoy," he broke silence abruptly. "The chart indicates a group of islands, but not how many, off there to the north'ard, or nor'-nor'westward, about forty miles--the Acteon Islands. What about them?""There are four, all low," McCoy answered. "First to the southeast is Matuerui--no people, no entrance to the lagoon. Then comes Tenarunga. There used to be about a dozen people there, but they may be all gone now. Anyway, there is no entrance for a ship--only a boat entrance, with a fathom of water.

Vehauga and Teua-raro are the other two. No entrances, no people, very low.

There is no bed for the Pyrenees in that group. She would be a total wreck.""Listen to that!" Captain Davenport was frantic. "No people! No entrances!

What in the devil are islands good for?

"Well, then, he barked suddenly, like an excited terrier, "the chart gives a whole mess of islands off to the nor'west. What about them? What one has an entrance where I can lay my ship?"McCoy calmly considered. He did not refer to the chart. All these islands, reefs, shoals, lagoons, entrances, and distances were marked on the chart of his memory. He knew them as the city dweller knows his buildings, streets, and alleys.

"Papakena and Vanavana are off there to the westward, or west-nor'westward a hundred miles and a bit more," he said. "One is uninhabited, and I heard that the people on the other had gone off to Cadmus Island. Anyway, neither lagoon has an entrance. Ahunui is another hundred miles on to the nor'west. No entrance, no people.""Well, forty miles beyond them are two islands?" Captain Davenport queried, raising his head from the chart.

McCoy shook his head.

"Paros and Manuhungi--no entrances, no people. Nengo-Nengo is forty miles beyond them, in turn, and it has no people and no entrance. But there is Hao Island. It is just the place. The lagoon is thirty miles long and five miles wide. There are plenty of people. You can usually find water. And any ship in the world can go through the entrance."He ceased and gazed solicitously at Captain Davenport, who, bending over the chart with a pair of dividers in hand, had just emitted a low groan.

"Is there any lagoon with an entrance anywhere nearer than Hao Island?" he asked.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 天帝传

    天帝传

    十方无影像,六道绝形踪。跳出三界外,不在五行中。红尘中,有美人如画,诗酒才俊,大江横流千帆过,而他只为武道,冷眼旁观。无边黑夜,有邪魔嗜血,妖妃妩媚,万人尸坑千人冢,而他只做该做之事,坚守不变的本心。待到那一天,来到天路最顶端的地方,他目望苍天,手指人间,喊出一句:“我是天帝君,众生来拜我。”
  • 惹婚上身

    惹婚上身

    撞见未婚夫跟别的女人在一起的时候,她可以冷静地为他们关上了门,干净利落地分手,他们好聚好散。家中面临破产,姐姐失踪,爸爸住院,在她穷途末路的时候,一个戴着面具的神秘男人出现在了她的生活里,她却无处可躲。“小丫头,我看上你了,做我的女人!”某男饶有兴趣地盯着眼前的小丫头。“天亮以后,银货两讫是吗?只可惜,洛先生,您找错人了……”“我要你做名正言顺的洛太太!”传闻洛大少心有所属,洁身自好,那张神秘的面具遮着一半惨不忍睹的脸,可在林微微的眼里,却只看到了另外一半迷惑众生,绝代风华的脸。从第一次见到他,林微微就知道,这个男人很危险,可是,世界那么大,她却逃不出他的手掌心!
  • 冒牌公主正牌妃

    冒牌公主正牌妃

    穿越了穿越了,杨一一终于也穿越了,只是想不明白的是,天上那么多的神仙,为什么自己就只能遇到个实习的呢?竟然被这个该死的神仙弄错了……算了,自己不计较了,可是,竟然被人威胁了啊,还要冒名顶替嫁人哦。嫁就嫁吧,好在对方是个王爷,应该有钱吧?说不定还能顺便捞点呢。只是,听说那个王爷已经病入膏肓了啊,不会刚嫁过去就要做寡妇吧……
  • 佛说大迦叶问大宝积正法经卷第一

    佛说大迦叶问大宝积正法经卷第一

    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。
  • 漫漫婚宠

    漫漫婚宠

    若子影莫名其妙的就怀孕了,更奇怪的是她母亲竟然带着她去沉家,指着沉家大少爷,说孩子是他的。若子影蒙了,而沉家大少爷也觉得搞笑,他们没有认识,怎么说孩子是他的?若子影认为母亲发了神经病,但是当母亲告诉她这件事情的真相时,若子影很震惊,母亲竟然对她和沉家大少爷做出这么荒唐无耻的事情。
  • 体育教学模式论

    体育教学模式论

    《体育教学模式论》介绍体育教学模式的概念、理论,我国目前在高校体育教学实践中运用的10种典型体育教学模式,以及实际案例。
  • 国民校花请入怀

    国民校花请入怀

    从被季席暮救下的那一刻起,被粉丝称为国民校花的顾晨曦就对他一见钟情,甚至为了他,转学到他就读的学校。但奈何身为众人心中男神的季席暮太高冷,顾晨曦不得不对他一撩再撩。顾晨曦:世界上有三种人,好人,坏人,不是人,你是哪种?季席暮:好人。顾晨曦:不,你是我的人!季席暮:……顾晨曦:这道题你会做吗?季席暮看着那道名为“你会喜欢我吗”的题目,淡淡启唇:不会。顾晨曦:我会吖,我来教你吧!季席暮:……*季席暮以为他会一直生活在黑暗里,可顾晨曦的出现,却像一道温暖的阳光照亮了他的生命。面对顾晨曦一次又一次的靠近,无法拒绝的他,只能用行动,将她变成他的专属。(萌系校花vs高冷男神)
  • 活到天年:太阳养生祛病法

    活到天年:太阳养生祛病法

    我们都知道太阳运行的规律是东升西落,而且在天空中所处的位置时时刻刻都在变化,一天天,一年年,周而复始。同时,我们的身体随着太阳的轮回旋转,在一天的十二时辰,一季之中的二十四节气,一年之中的四季都有着不同的微妙的变化,探索研究这些变化,并跟随这些变化做相应的调整和保养,是中医养生的精妙所在。中医养生学的要点在于顺从自然,即顺从时辰转换的变化,二十四节气气象的变化,以及……
  • 寻风铃

    寻风铃

    她前世是高高在上桀骜霸道的尊主,才华与谋略无人匹敌,却因奸人陷害,活活被自己的母皇夺取双目和灵力并逐出国境……不甘心的她竟然穿越到一个丑丫头身上,而这个丑丫头竟是拥有至上灵力的至尊灵皇却被封印无用废柴?看来这是老天给她惩恶扬善的机会了……
  • Who Killed Palomino Molero?