«The South Sea Tales» kitabından alıntılar, sayfa 2
It was a tight deck, yet it leaked smoke like a sieve. And we've calked and calked ever since. There must be tremendous pressure underneath to drive so much smoke through." That afternoon the sky became overcast again, and squally, drizzly weather set in. The wind shifted back and forth between southeast and northeast, and at midnight the Pyrenees was caught aback by a sharp squall from the southwest, from which point the wind continued to blow intermittently. "We won't make Hao until ten or eleven," Captain Davenport complained at seven in the morning, when the fleeting promise of the sun had been erased by hazy cloud masses in the eastern sky. And the next moment he was plaintively demanding, "And what are the currents doing?"
That is Taenga Island," McCoy said. "We need a breeze tonight, or else we'll miss Makemo." "What's become of the southeast trade?" the captain demanded. "Why don't it blow? What's the matter?" "It is the evaporation from the big lagoons—there are so many of them," McCoy explained. The evaporation upsets the whole system of trades. It even causes the wind to
Shortly before daybreak the first breath of air began to move from out the southeast, increasing swiftly to a stiff and stiffer breeze. All hands were on deck waiting for what might be behind it. "We're all right now, Captain," said McCoy, standing close to his shoulder. "The hurricane is to the west'ard, and we are south of it. This breeze is the insuck. It won't blow any harder. You can begin to put sail on her." "But what's the good? Where shall I sail? This is the second day without observations, and we should have sighted Hao Island yesterday morning. Which way does it bear, north, south, east, or what? Tell me that, and I'll make sail in a jiffy." "I am no navigator, Captain," McCoy said
Oh, shut up!" Captain Davenport yelled suddenly and with such force as to startle every man on board and to frighten the offender into a wild wail of terror. "Mr. Konig," the captain said in a voice that trembled with rage and nerves, "will you kindly step for'ard and stop that brat's mouth with a deck mop?" But it was McCoy who went forward, and in a few minutes had the boy comforted and asleep.
a great mirror, thirty miles in length and a third as broad. "Now, Captain." For the last time the yards of the Pyrenees swung around as she obeyed the wheel and headed into the passage. The turns had scarcely been made, and nothing had been coiled down, when the men and mates swept back to the poop in panic terror. Nothing had happened, yet they averred that something was going to happen. They could not tell why. They merely knew that it was about to happen. 'mcCoy started forward to take up his position on the bow in order to con the vessel in; but the captain gripped his arm and whirled him around. "Do it from here," he said. "That deck's not safe. What's the matter?" he demanded the next instant. "We're standing still." McCoy smiled.
You hypnotized em," Mr. Konig grinned at him, speaking in a low voice. "Those boys are good," was the answer. " Their hearts are good. They have had a hard time, and they have worked hard, and they will work hard to the end." Mr. Konig had not time to reply. His voice was ringing out orders, the sailors were springing to obey, and the PYRENEES was
