Part 4 (1/2)
”That is the present arrangeood time, especially in Paris I should like to live in Paris hly to the artist Yet, I aained the best thing in the world,” cried the doctor, throwing out his are progressed Christobal was exceedingly well inforhtful listener like Elsie Isobel, tiring at times of the Count, would join in their conversation, and display a spasmodic interest in the topics they discussed There were only six other passengers, a Baptist lish globe-trotter, a singular being who appeared to have roamed the entire earth, but whose experiences were summed up in tords--every place he had seen was either ”Fair” or ”Rotten”
Even Isobel failed to draw him further, and she said one day, in a temper, after a spirited attempt to extract some of his stored impressions: ”The man reminds me of one of those dummy books you see occasionally, bound in calf and labeled 'Gazetteer of the World' When you try to open a volume you find that it is made of wood”
So they nicknamed him ”Mr Wood,” and Elsie once inadvertently addressed him by the name
”What do you think of the weather, Mr Wood?” she asked him at breakfast
He chanced to notice that she was speaking to him
”Rotten,” he said
Perhaps he wondered why Miss Maxwell flushed and the others laughed
But, in actual fact, he was not far wrong in his curious choice of an adjective thathad been justified on the second day out Leaden clouds, a sullen sea, and occasional puffs of a stinging breeze froe for the sunny skies of Chile
Though the _Kansas_ was not a fast shi+p, she could haveof the fourth day were not Captain Courtenay wishful to navigate the ht His intent, therefore, was to pick up the Evangelistas light about ht, and then crack ahead at fourteen knots, so as to be off Felix Point on Desolation Island by dawn
This was not only a prudent and seamanlike course but it would conduce to the co into a stiff gale Each hour the sea becaht thousand tons of the _Kansas_ felt the iiant rollers on her starboard bow Dinner, therefore, promised to be a e that as soon as the vessel reached the lee of Desolation Island the giant waves of the Pacific would lose their power, and all on board would enjoy a quiet night's rest
There were no absentees at the table Dr Christobal strove to enliven the others with the promise of peace ere many hours had passed
”Pay no heed to those fellows!” he cried, as the shi+p quivered under the blow of a heavy sea, and they heard the thud ofover the bows and fore hatch, while the defeated htly screwed ports with a venomous swish ”They cannot harm us now Let us rather thank kindly Providence which provided Magellan's water-way; think what it would inning to catch on to the reasonableness of that toast of yours, doctor,” said one of theAmerican ”I happen to be a tee-totaler, but I don't eneral welfare e shove our nose past the Cape of the large nu and unprotected feood time,” he said ”Never halloo for the prairie until you are clear of the forest If the wind remains in its present quarter, we are fortunate Should it happen to veer round to the eastward, and you see the rocks of Tierra del Fuego lashed by the choppy sea that can run even through a land-locked channel, you will be ready to open two bottles as a thanks-offering Is this your first trip round by the south?”
”Yes, I crossed by way of Panama Guess a mule-track over the Sierras is a heap better than the Pacific in a gale Jee-whizz!”
A spiteful sea sprang at the _Kansas_ and shook her froroaned and creaked as though she were in pain; she staggered an instant, and then swung irresistibly forith a fierce plunge that made the plates dance and cutlery rattle in the fiddles
”I suppose we must endure five hours of this,” said Elsie, bravely
”I don't like it Why does not Captain Courtenay, or even Mr Boyle, put in an appearance? I have hardly seen either of them since the day I came aboard”
Isobel was petulant, and perhaps a little frightened She had not yet reached that stage of confidence faale is terrifying Later there comes an indifference born of supreines--the unwavering path across the raging vortex of turay waters--the orderly way in which the members of the crew follow their duties--these are quietly persistent factors in the gradual soothing of the nerves Many a tiht of terror, has gone to sleep when the watch began to swab the deck overhead Not even a Spartan sailor would begin to ork if the shi+p were sinking
”All ladies like to see an officer in the saloon during a storuilty to a weakness in that direction e”
”The captain cannot be on the bridge always,” said Isobel
”He is seldom far from it in bad weather, if he is faithful to his trust And I fancy ould all admit that Captain Courtenay--”
A curious shock, sharper and altogether e wave, sounded loud andin their ears The shi+p treely still