"
New Year's Day! What a lump in the throat the words brought. In three
days it would be Christmas, in seven more the New Year! Though, from
the beginning of the voyage, they were prepared to pass both festivals
at sea, there was all the difference in the world between a steady
progress towards home and friends and the present plight of the
_Kansas_. Death, too, had thrown its shadow over them. Some there
were to whom the passing of the years would mean no more in this world.
Others, the great majority of the ship's company, were probably hidden
by the same eternal silence; the last sight they had of them was a dim
vision of boats rushing into a chaos of angry seas and sheeted spray.
But Courtenay would have none of these mournful memories. He had
solved the mystery of the ship's breakdown, and an expert mechanical
engineer had just pledged his reputation to restore wings to the
_Kansas_--somewhat clipped wings, it is true, but sufficient, given
fair weather and reasonable good fortune, to bring her to a civilized
settlement in the Straits. Why, then, should they yield to gloom?
"Isn't that glorious news?" he cried.
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