"The
course was South-40-East, and, against this wind and sea, together with
a strong current to the nor'east, we would make eight knots under easy
steam. Therefore, by eight o'clock, when the furnaces blew out, we
were 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 agreement.
"Huh," he said.
Courtenay glanced at a chronometer.
"It is now a quarter to nine," he went on, "and I reckon that since the
ship 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 ship. The
pin stuck where the Admiralty chart recorded soundings of one hundred
fathoms with a fine sand bed. The longitude 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.
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