Part 7 (1/2)
CHAPTER IV
ELSIE GOES ON DECK
As a little yeast leavens ive strength and courage to a h the ruiant hich pooped the shi+p had carried ao of her six boats, there were no visible signs of flurry in theboats for use
The men had confidence in their officers; every one worked shty persons on board when the _Kansas_ left Valparaiso Of these, seventeen, including the officers, were of European birth or lineage The re froht under-stewards, a cook and his assistants, and nearly fifty sailors and firemen Unfortunately, the explosion in the stokehold had killed the chief engineer and one of his juniors, while six stokers were dead and several injured
It was discovered that, before he died, the chief had shut off stea far ineer, a Newcastle ine-roo in collapse on the lever platform Walker promptly opened certain levers which allowed the steam to escape freely; then he carried his comrade out of the spume to the deck It was too late
Partial suffocation had placed too great a strain on a diseased heart; by the time Dr Christobal was summoned, a brave man was dead
Courtenay, who had left instructions that he was to be called when the Evangelistas light was sighted, was sound asleep In the elevated quarters assigned to the captain, the noise of the explosion differed little froines awoke him instantly He felt the shi+p lurch away from her course, and saw the quick swerve of the coway leading froe he heard the officer of the watch say:
”Soine-room, sir”
Severalvolunteers, could penetrate the depths of the stoke-hold The place was a charnel-house, a stifling pit, filled with the charred contents of the furnaces, which gave off theto the rapid condensation of steaale raging without served one good purpose in driving plenty of air down the ventilating cowls Gradually, the choking atmosphere cleared Courtenay was the first to reach the lower of the iron ladder, whence he looked with the eyes of despair on a scene of death and ruin
The electric light was uninjured It revealed the bodies of severala-rods, and pieces of iron plate had been hurled about in wild confusion The door of one furnace was blown clean out of its bolts; furnace bars and fire-bricks strewed the iron deck, while, each time the shi+p rolled, the heavy clank of loose e was not confined solely to the stoke-hold
If Courtenay could have dropped quietly into the sea through the stout hull of the _Kansas_ he would have welcomed the certain result in that bitter moment But he was the captain, and men would look to him for salvation Well, he would do all that was possible, and, at any rate, die at his post So, choking back his s were forns of life were visible were the first to be lifted to the upper deck
The stoke-hold was quickly e and dead alike were carried to the untenanted second-class saloon forward Then Courtenay left Walker to solve the puzzle of the accident and report on its extent, while he cli problem of the measures to be adopted if he would save his shi+p
It was typical of the rime of the stoke-hold off his face and hands Then he drew a chart from the locker in which he had placed it two hours earlier Mr Boyle, who had been attending to the signals both by siren and rocket, joined him
Courtenay pointed to a pin-mark in the sheet
”We were there at six o'clock,” he said, and his voice was so steady that he seemed now to be free from the least touch of anxiety ”The course was South-40-East, and, against this wind and sea, together with a strong current to the nor'east, ould ht o'clock, when the furnaces blew out, ere here”
He jabbed in a pin a little further down the chart Mr Boyle, whose peculiar gifts in the way of speech were accurately described by Dr
Christobal, grunted agreelanced at a chronometer
”It is now a quarter to nine,” he went on, ”and I reckon that since the shi+p swung round we have been carried at least six knots to the nor'east”
”Huh,” growled Mr Boyle again, but he bent a trifle nearer the chart
To his sailor's eyes the situation was quite simple Unless, by God's providence, some miracle happened, the _Kansas_ was a doomed shi+p The pin stuck where the Ads of one hundred fathoitude was 75-50 west of Greenwich and latitude 51-35 south Staring at them from the otherwise blank space which showed the wide expanse of the Pacific was an ominous note by the compilers of the chart:
”Seamen are cautioned not to make free with these shores, as they are very imperfectly known, and, from their wild, desolate character, they cannot be approached with safety”
Right in the track of the drifting shi+p lay a vaguely outlined trio of dread import: ”Breakers; Islet (conical); Duncan Rock” Behind this sinister barrier stood thedue north and south a fewdotted line which professed to nificance to the unknown character of the region, a printed comment followed the dotted line: ”This coast is laid down frole” So the sea face of Hanover Island had not been visited by civilizeddistance frouarded by reefs on one hand, and impenetrable, ice-capped mountains on the other, that a proper survey was deemed impracticable even by officers of the British Navy, a service which has charted nearly every rock and shoal and tiny islet on the face of the waters