Part 4 (1/2)
With that the boatsalked away forward to convey athered on the forecastle-head, evidently waiting for hi close by, and said:
”When your father took his sights, Billy, who used to note the chronometer times?”
”Mr Barber, always,” answered Billy; ”and then he and Father used to work out the calculations together But if you want anybody to note the tihts, Mr Blackburn, I can do it for you”
”Are you sure you can do it quite accurately?” I asked
”_Quite_ sure!” asserted Billy ”Just you try me, sir”
”Very well, I will,” said I ”Come below, and let me see what you can do”
Billy soon demonstrated that he was to be i the chronoloriously fine, I had no difficulty in deteritude of the shi+p, which I found to be 50 degrees 48 minutes 40 seconds East, while a ave our latitude as 34 degrees 26 ot out the chart of the Indian Ocean, pricked off the shi+p's position on it, and sat down to consider what should be the next step
For, whether I decided to remain in the shi+p or to leave her, her position, as now laid down on the chart, showed that a shi+ft of hel to decide that in any case I would take the shi+p into Port Louis Harbour, Mauritius, which ht be reached in a week, or less if the weather held favourable
Thence I could report to the owners the loss of the _Saturn_ Also, if I decided to quit the _Yorkshi+re Lass_ there, I should have the choice of two routes hoascar and the Suez Canal; or by the Union-Castle Line, via Cape Town and the Atlantic If, on the other hand, the crew acceded to my conditions, and I was to re but a ht course for the east end of Sandalwood Island, whence I would pass through Maurissa Strait and go over, as nearly as round that Barber was said to have travelled before he struck the spot where he was supposed to have found the treasure
When at length I went up on deck again, Enderby aiting for me
”Well,” I said, ”have the people for'ardto do? I am rather anxious to know, because upon their decision will depend ht, Mr Blackburn,” answered the boatswain ”Them two chaps, Svorenssen and Van Ryn, sees all their oay; but ht 'em up with a round turn by tellin' all hands what you'd said Says I: 'Now look here, you chaps We've got the navigator ants, and if this here treasure place is to be found you may all bet your boots he'll find it But he won't have no socialism, no runnin' the shi+p by committees, nor no nonsense of that sort; he'll be Mister Skipper, and don't none of you forget it! Now, you was all quite satisfied when Cap'n Stenson commanded the shi+p: what difference do it ives the orders? It don't make a hap'orth of difference to e'er a one of ye! Very well, then; ether and we've decided that, havin' been lucky enough to get hold of Mr Blackburn, we ain't goin' to lose 'im because of any socialistic tommy-rot; so if there's anybody here as objects to Mr Blackburn's conditions, let 'im say so, and we'll ask the new skipper to put in somewheres, and we'll shove the dissatisfied ones ashore'
”There was a fine old ruoin' to be done out of their share of the treasure for nobody, nor nobody wasn't goin' to put 'em out of the shi+p; and for a oin' to have a ether, the others backin' up oes seen which way the as blowin', they give in, and said, all right, we ht 'ave our oay, since we seemed so stuck upon it So there you are, sir; you're our new skipper, and if the Dagoes gets obstropolous we'll just shove 'em ashore, even if we has to maroon 'em”
”I scarcely think it will be necessary to adopt any such extreners are made to understand that the rest of you will stand no nonsense froh If they do not--if they manifest the least inclination to be troublesome--I will put them ashore at Port Louis, Mauritius, at which port I intend to call in any case, that I may report the loss of the _Saturn_, and send certain letters hooes learn that we are going to call in at a British port on our way, it may steady them a bit and help them to see that their wisest plan will be to settle down and behave the to shi+ft the helm
Haul up to Nor'-Nor'-East, and take a pull upon the lee braces”
During the ensuing six days wea quite unexpected and most welcome turn of speed, which carried us to Port Louis exactly a week after I had boarded her We rera ood supply of fruit and a little fresha course for Maurissa Strait
For the four days following our departure froth, beca us helplessly becalrant draught of air would co to it an evanescent tint of delicate blue; and then there would be a call upon the watch to man the braces and tri, to the e in labour that resulted, inthe shi+p only to the extent of a few fathoms But it had to be done, for ere on the border-line between the prevailing westerly winds of the Southern Ocean and the south-east Trades, and to get into the latter the shi+p had to be jockeyed across the intervening belt of calms A curious fact in connection with this time of trial to our patience--and it was a fact that caused me some anxious speculation--was that the two men, Svorenssen and Van Ryn, who, at the outset of my connection with them, seerumbled least at the continual calls to the braces
It was on the afternoon of the fourth of these trying days that, as we lay becallass-smooth sea, the polished surface became touched here and there with faint, evanescent patches of softest turquoise-blue, appearing for a ain They were the ”cats-paws” that indicated a nant air, and the appearances of which were always greeted by the fore” the yards--work for what they regarded as a ludicrously inadequate result But on this occasion the cats-paws, instead of enduring for a few seconds and then being no , perhaps, as two or threeaway only to be succeeded by others coer than their predecessors, so continuing until at length we not only got way upon the shi+p but were able tointervals between one puff and another Finally a e one into another, while the whole surface of the sea down in the south-eastern quarter lost its hateful mirror- like appearance and donned a tint of faintest,steadily doard us until it reached the shi+p and, with a last gentle rustle of canvas, she yielded to the i of the south-east Trades
When at length the true breeze reached us it ca us still to lay our course, on the starboard tack, with the braces the merest trifle checked Once fairly set in, the wind rapidly freshened until, e of the afterguard went down to supper at seven o'clock that evening, a fiery breeze was hu off her seven knots, with the royal stowed, and a rapidly rising sea foa under her lee bow
CHAPTER FIVE
WE FIND THE TREASURE
It was a grand evening when, after supper, I went on deck for my usual ”constitutional” The salt, ozone-laden breeze was just cool enough to set one's blood coursing freely through one's veins and to fill one with the joy of living; the shi+p was orgeous blaze of gold and colour where the sun was sinking in the alaxy of clouds of theexperience
In those latitudes the glories of the sunset very quickly fade, and with their disappearance night falls upon the scene like the drawing of a curtain So was it on the evening in question; but I had grown accustohtfalls, and for a few hts, was quite unaware of anything unusual in our surroundings As the darkness deepened around us, however, it suddenly occurred to e in the appearance of the water; instead of its colour deepening under the shadow of night, as usual, it see diluted with increasing quantities of , it became, first of all, snohite, and then, as the darkness continued to deepen and the stars appeared, the entire ocean, from horizon to horizon, became a sea of luminous, molten silver, the weird, unearthly beauty of which there are no words to describe Yet, beautiful as it was, the unusual, almost unique character of the pheno element that was not very far removed from terror, especially for the lances aft, and restless, agitated movements sufficiently proclaimed their apprehension
Presently Chips, as in charge of the watch and who had been padding fore and aft on the lee side of the after-deck, crossed over and reht, Mr Blackburn? Boy and ood twenty year and nify anything particular, think ye?”
”Nothing beyond a ly beautiful state of phosphorescence,” I replied ”I have not used the sea for anything like so long a ti of the sa like so brilliant and beautiful as this
And it was not so very far fro the run from Cape Town to Melbourne It is due to the presence, in quite unusual numbers, of the animalculae which produce the appearance of phosphorescence in the water; but while under ordinary circumstances those animalculae are only present in sufficient numbers to cause the usual appearance of stars and luht in such incalculableed into one uniform blaze of the beautiful silvery radiance which we see It may last for several hours yet, but sooner or later it will becoain”