It naturally took some time to place them in full possession of all the facts pertaining2 to their uncomfortable position, but by degrees they were told all that Mr. Chadwick knew of the case. The crew of rascals3 at present in possession of the yacht was the same outfit4 that had been shipped hurriedly at Madeira. Either out of maliciousness5, or because they really believed it, certain members of the old crew had told the new hands that the professor was off on a hunt for fabulous6 treasure on the Spanish Main.
Trouble had broken out in mid-ocean. The crew had sent a committee to the professor formally to demand a share in the treasure. This, of course, had been denied for the very excellent reason that the trip was not making a treasure hunt. Its object was purely7 scientific, its destination, that naturalists’ paradise, the Upper Amazon. But the crew, their minds inflated8 by hopes of gold and jewels, professed9 to believe that they were being tricked. No words of Captain Sprowl, an old Yankee mariner10, could convince them to the contrary. Under the leadership of Mart. Medway, the bristly-moustached man, and Luke Hemming11, his lieutenant12 in mischief13, they had been ugly for weeks.
This led to Captain Sprowl’s bluntly telling them that on arrival in America, to which he was shaping his course for that purpose, they would all be discharged and new men taken on in their places. This did not suit the men at all. Driven wild by dreams of wealth they broke into open mutiny a short time after the professor had sent his wireless14 despatch15 to Mr. Chadwick. Led by Medway and Luke Hemming, they insisted that the yacht be held on her course for South America. A refusal to do so resulted in so much trouble that the yacht had been navigated16 as close to the shore as was safe, and the guns fired for aid when they saw in the distance what they thought was the Baking Pan Life Saving Station. What followed then, we already know.
Of course it took a long time to explain this with the primitive17 means at the command of those who had so unexpectedly got into communication. It was a matter of vast joy to Jack18, though, to know that his father was uninjured and in good spirits, although, so Mr. Chadwick had tapped out, those on the other side of the partition were as much in doubt as to their ultimate fate as were the boys themselves.
By the time it was deemed prudent19 to cease communication for the time being, there was an angry sea running outside. Once a big green wave climbed the yacht’s side and swept in a torrent20 into the boys’ cabin. They had to close the port-hole and this made the tiny place almost insufferably stuffy21. The motion, too, of the yacht as she plowed22 through the rising sea made Dick feel uncomfortably squeamish. Luckily, both Jack and Tom were good sailors and felt no inconvenience.
Night had fallen and the cabin was plunged23 in darkness, but nobody came near them. There was an electric globe in the cabin, but when Jack tried to turn it on he found that the current had been cut off. From outside the door they could hear the buzz of voices, but were not able to distinguish words. Presumably Medway and Hemming were in consultation24. But even though the boys tried their utmost to hear something, hoping that it might shed some light on their ultimate destiny, the complaining of the laboring25 ship and the low tone in which the men’s voices were pitched, prevented any eavesdropping26.
And so the hours wore on, the prisoners from time to time communicating by tapping in the Morse code. This, in itself, made the dreary27, dark hours more endurable for the boys. As it grew later it was evident by the frantic28 pitching of the yacht that a tremendous sea must be running outside.
From time to time they could hear the rush of heavy feet on the deck overhead and thought they could catch the sound of hoarse29 shouts.
“Gracious!” exclaimed Tom, after an unusually heavy lurch30 had sent him staggering across the cabin, “there must be a whopper of a storm outside.”
“Yes, indeed,” agreed Jack, “she’s pitching like a bucking31 bronco. Wow! Feel that!”
The Valkyrie appeared to climb heavenward, pause for a thrilling instant, and then rush down—down—down as if she would never stop.
“Oh-h-h-h-h-h!” groaned32 Dick in an agony of sea-sickness, “is she going to the bottom?”
“No danger of that,” responded Jack with a confidence he was far from feeling, “this old tub has been around the world before now, and an off-shore gale33 isn’t going to finish her.”
“Wo-o-f!” groaned Dick, “I wish it would. This is what I get for snoopin’ around where I have no business to be. Oh-o-o-o-o!”
All at once there came to them, above the uproar34 and confusion of the storm, the sound of the “telegraph” at work. Jack was alert in an instant.
“What is it?” he tapped back.
“The professor says,” came the reply, “that the cabin next to you on the other side and the one you are now in used to be all one stateroom. A partition was put in some time ago of which the new crew knows nothing. It was so fitted that it could be moved out if necessary. Maybe if you can find out how it works,—he has forgotten,—you can get out when the time arrives.”
This was news indeed. There was, then, a way of escape out of their prison if they could find it. But with a moment’s reflection came another thought.
Even if they did get out, they could do nothing against twenty men and two officers. But, just the same, Jack made a mental note of the information, resolving to investigate. A time might come, as his father had suggested, when they could put it to practical use. That day was to come sooner than any of them expected.
But until dawn brought light it was useless to think of examining their prison. The darkness that enveloped35 them was velvety36 in its denseness37. Only by a sense of touch could they find their way about. And so, tossed and tumbled by the violent motion of the yacht, faint and heart-sick from want of food and doubt as to what was to become of them, the boys passed the night as best they could. At times they slept fitfully, only to waken to hear the shrieking38 of the wind and experience the sickening plunges39 of the buffeted40 yacht.
The first chilly41 gray light that preceded the dawn was stealing into the cabin when, without warning, the motion of the engine suddenly stopped. They felt the yacht struggle like a wounded thing as the seas broke over her. Then her motion changed. Like a water-logged craft she began to tumble and roll in the trough of the waves.
“Are we sinking?” cried Tom, wakening from a doze42 with a start.
“I don’t know what’s happened,” rejoined Jack, “but it looks to me as if the machinery43 had broken down.”
“In that case we’re in a mighty44 bad fix?”
“About as bad as we can be. A few hours longer in the trough of this sea will break us up and send us to the bottom.”
The boys regarded each other with white, frightened faces. There was something terrifying in the realization45 that the yacht had ceased to struggle with the waves. It was as if, despairing of weathering the storm, she had given up the struggle.
Suddenly the door was flung open. The form of Medway, shrouded46 in dripping oil-skins, stood framed in the doorway47. He looked haggard and worn and, at least so Jack thought, not a little frightened.
“You kids understand machinery?” he asked roughly, holding on to the door-frame to steady himself against the yacht’s crazy rolls.
“A little,” responded Jack.
“Then come with me, and no monkey tricks if you want to get out of this alive,” he shot out, brusquely.
“Only you two. Not that red-headed kid,” he added, as all three of the boys arose to follow him.
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1
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pertaining
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| 与…有关系的，附属…的，为…固有的(to) | |
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rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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maliciousness
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| [法] 恶意 | |
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fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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7
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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inflated
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| adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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mariner
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| n.水手号不载人航天探测器，海员，航海者 | |
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hemming
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| 卷边 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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13
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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wireless
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| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
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15
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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navigated
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| v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的过去式和过去分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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stuffy
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| adj.不透气的，闷热的 | |
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plowed
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| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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24
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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25
laboring
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| n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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eavesdropping
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| n. 偷听 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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30
lurch
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| n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行 | |
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31
bucking
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| v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的现在分词 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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32
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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33
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
velvety
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| adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的 | |
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37
denseness
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| 稠密，密集，浓厚； 稠度 | |
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38
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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39
plunges
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| n.跳进，投入vt.使投入，使插入，使陷入vi.投入，跳进，陷入v.颠簸( plunge的第三人称单数 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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40
buffeted
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| 反复敲打( buffet的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续猛击； 打来打去； 推来搡去 | |
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41
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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42
doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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43
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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44
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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45
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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46
shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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47
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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