登陆注册
4809100000046

第46章 THE SEED OF McCOY.(6)

"No, Captain; that is the nearest."

"Well, it's three hundred and forty miles." Captain Davenport was speaking very slowly, with decision. "I won't risk the responsibility of all these lives. I'll wreck her on the Acteons. And she's a good ship, too," he added regretfully, after altering the course, this time making more allowance than ever for the westerly current.

An hour later the sky was overcast. The southeast trade still held, but the ocean was a checker board of squalls.

"We'll be there by one o'clock," Captain Davenport announced confidently. "By two o'clock at the outside. 'mcCoy, you put her ashore on the one where the people are."The sun did not appear again, nor, at one o'clock, was any land to be seen.

Captain Davenport looked astern at the Pyrenees' canting wake.

"Good Lord!" he cried. "An easterly current? Look at that!"Mr. Konig was incredulous. 'mcCoy was noncommittal, though he said that in the Paumotus there was no reason why it should not be an easterly current. A few minutes later a squall robbed the Pyrenees temporarily of all her wind, and she was left rolling heavily in the trough.

"Where's that deep lead? Over with it, you there!" Captain Davenport held the lead line and watched it sag off to the northeast. "There, look at that! Take hold of it for yourself."McCoy and the mate tried it, and felt the line thrumming and vibrating savagely to the grip of the tidal stream.

"A four-knot current," said Mr. Konig.

"An easterly current instead of a westerly," said Captain "Davenport, glaring accusingly at McCoy, as if to cast the blame for it upon him.

"That is one of the reasons, Captain, for insurance being eighteen per cent in these waters," McCoy answered cheerfully. "You can never tell. The currents are always changing. There was a man who wrote books, I forget his name, in the yacht Casco.

He missed Takaroa by thirty miles and fetched Tikei, all because of the shifting currents. You are up to windward now, and you'd better keep off a few points.""But how much has this current set me?" the captain demanded irately. "How am I to know how much to keep off?""I don't know, Captain," McCoy said with great gentleness.

The wind returned, and the PYRENEES, her deck smoking and shimmering in the bright gray light, ran off dead to leeward. Then she worked back, port tack and starboard tack, crisscrossing her track, combing the sea for the Acteon Islands, which the masthead lookouts failed to sight.

Captain Davenport was beside himself. His rage took the form of sullen silence, and he spent the afternoon in pacing the poop or leaning against the weather shrouds. At nightfall, without even consulting McCoy, he squared away and headed into the northwest. Mr. Konig, surreptitiously consulting chart and binnacle, and McCoy, openly and innocently consulting the binnacle, knew that they were running for Hao Island. By midnight the squalls ceased, and the stars came out. Captain Davenport was cheered by the promise of a clear day.

"I'll get an observation in the morning," he told McCoy, "though what my latitude is, is a puzzler. But I'll use the Sumner method, and settle that. Do you know the Sumner line?"And thereupon he explained it in detail to McCoy.

The day proved clear, the trade blew steadily out of the east, and the Pyrenees just as steadily logged her nine knots. Both the captain and mate worked out the position on a Sumner line, and agreed, and at noon agreed again, and verified the morning sights by the noon sights.

"Another twenty-four hours and we'll be there," Captain Davenport assured McCoy. :"It's a miracle the way the old girl's decks hold out. But they can't last. They can't last. Look at them smoke, more and more every day. Yet it was a tight deck to begin with, fresh-calked in Frisco. I was surprised when the fire first broke out and we battened down. Look at that!"He broke off to gaze with dropped jaw at a spiral of smoke that coiled and twisted in the lee of the mizzenmast twenty feet above the deck.

"Now, how did that get there?" he demanded indignantly.

Beneath it there was no smoke. Crawling up from the deck, sheltered from the wind by the mast, by some freak it took form and visibility at that height. It writhed away from the mast, and for a moment overhung the captain like some threatening portent. The next moment the wind whisked it away, and the captain's jaw returned to place.

"As I was saying, when we first battened down, I was surprised. It was a tight deck, yet it leaked smoke like a sieve. And we've calked and calked ever since. There must be tremendous pressure underneath to drive so much smoke through."That afternoon the sky became overcast again, and squally, drizzly weather set in. The wind shifted back and forth between southeast and northeast, and at midnight the Pyrenees was caught aback by a sharp squall from the southwest, from which point the wind continued to blow intermittently.

同类推荐
  • 作邑自箴

    作邑自箴

    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。
  • 柳洲医话

    柳洲医话

    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。
  • 大唐保大乙巳岁续贞元释教录

    大唐保大乙巳岁续贞元释教录

    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。
  • 疑狱集

    疑狱集

    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。
  • 神应经

    神应经

    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。
热门推荐
  • 闪婚掠爱,总裁宠妻至上

    闪婚掠爱,总裁宠妻至上

    一夜之间,她的家化为乌有,深爱的男友背叛她……她的愿望是重振门楣,婚姻不过是女人第二次投胎,爱情对她来说已经不值钱。闪婚、新婚变隐婚。婆婆难伺侯,小姑很猖狂,她还是孤军奋战。几番职场厮杀,她因猎头挖角,居然成了他死对头的一号助理,这才发现老公还是抢手货,不仅冷,还恶,还狠,狂得无边,更重要的是,他是前任男友的现任小舅舅……******************************************她以为她可以一直一个人,不管他身边有谁。可是,原来世界上最具欺骗性的,不是别人,而是自己。
  • 紫色裂缝之极地机甲防御圈

    紫色裂缝之极地机甲防御圈

    紫色裂缝所传送过来的巨型魔兽,被魔兽之血所感染的普通学生,因此而重新启动的兽型机甲。开始了,紫色裂缝歼灭战。
  • 向上吧!中华少年

    向上吧!中华少年

    《向上吧!中华少年》稿以时间线索为经、空间线索为纬,纵横交织。纵向以中华传统文化为其根基,以清末第一批少年出国留学为起点,分四个阶段(清末—辛亥革命;辛亥革命—1949年;1949年—1978年;1978年—当今),全面检索大时代、大交融、大潮流、大变化背景下中华少年成长的总体特性与普遍规律。本书稿将思想性、功能性和可读性融为一体,宏观描绘与个案解剖结合,既有生动叙述,又有思想深处的共鸣。
  • 血脉与回望

    血脉与回望

    回望社会现代化进程中的“生长痛”,用尽可能温和的方式,表达所观察和理解的世界。《血脉与回望》,收录散文作家王月鹏近年创作的以作家在胶东半岛四十余年间的青少年生活和工作见闻为主题的系列散文作品。
  • 甜蜜的勾引

    甜蜜的勾引

    金黄色的阳光暖暖的洒落在树间,徐徐的凉风拂走了不少夏日的暑气,艾薇悠闲的走在着山光水色的乡间小路上。难得的暑假,看来到外婆这里来真是来对了呀。没有了城市中的喧嚣,没有了城市中的忙碌,在这样一个吃饱喝足的午后,惬意的走在着充满清甜草香的乡间小路上,真是人生一大快事啊!晃着手中的树枝,她摇头晃脑的跟着耳机中的音乐轻声哼唱,看着眼前这棵有着宽大树荫的大树,艾薇像只慵懒的小猪似的将自……
  • 英雄无双4·沙场英雄

    英雄无双4·沙场英雄

    《英雄无双》是一个以网络游戏为背景的超现实题材的幻想小说系列,也是国内网游小说第一人施鸥继《再生勇士》之后最受欢迎的网游小说。本书是《英雄无双》系列的第四部。因为恶魔小铃铛的原因,星月工作室遭到了一群职业玩家的灭国威胁。职业玩家的实力与无情,给女孩子们上了沉重的一课,关键时刻,还是刘仁力挽狂澜。人类阵营新一轮国王任务开始,这一次场面更加恢宏,更多高手参与其中,而逐渐恢复热血的刘仁,终于不再满足于小打小闹,他要以一敌万!游戏中精彩的任务一个接一个,但游戏之余,刘仁居然还要面临一项新任务,就是与一位女硕士探讨游戏与人生……
  • 重生八零之盛宠小娇妻

    重生八零之盛宠小娇妻

    重生前许佳人落得众叛亲离,最后被渣男活活烧死的凄惨下场。再次睁眼她带着空间回到了儿时,这一次她誓要改变命运。家里一贫如洗没关系,先致富再治人,渣男还是极品亲戚绝不手软放过。“小哥哥,真好看,有没有兴趣等我长大一起睡?”仗着自己童手童脚,许佳人撩男无下限,那个小哥哥你别跑,这辈子我要嫁给你。
  • 一床旧梦

    一床旧梦

    佳禾从梦中醒来,发现身边躺着一个女人。有一刻她以为自己没有醒,自从用了这架明代黄花梨拔步床之后,她就常常做一些奇怪的梦,梦中一切清晰得如同真实,醒来再回想,又记不得了,只记得是怪诞的,与真实根本搭不上边。佳禾略动了一下,发现女人一条手臂正搭在自己腰间的被子上,这表示什么呢,自己醒来看见女人?还是梦到了女人?她又闭上眼,居然发花痴了,还成了同性恋。心里觉得好笑,男朋友萧鹤驻外三个月了,自己白天上班,寂寞的晚上经常上网到后半夜,也许过于疲劳了吧,才会产生幻觉。
  • 九间棚采风

    九间棚采风

    在一个勃勃春天里,在冰雪还没有消融时,日子被悄悄打开。九间棚就开始生长了勃勃向往,放飞阳光与不懈的追求。这片曾经荒芜的山地,蓄意地追求着美好。
  • 你曾在我的青春里

    你曾在我的青春里

    在茫茫人海里与你相遇,是我一生最好的幸福。