CHAPTER XVIII The Difference of a Dot

"Hello, Sparks; you look a bit off colour?"

This was Dr. Selwyn's greeting as Mostyn, having handed over the watch to Plover¹, walked into the doctor's cabin.

"I feel it, Doc," replied Peter. "Touch of the old complaint—malaria²."

Selwyn had detected the symptoms the moment the Wireless³ Officer showed his face inside the door. Peter was trembling violently. He was feeling horribly cold, and his head was aching badly.

"Taken any quinine?" asked the medical man.

"Yes," was the reply. "My ears are buzzing already."

"Then turn in," ordered Selwyn. "I'll make you up a draught⁴. Keep as warm as you jolly well can. This will make you perspire⁵ freely before midnight, and you'll be fit by this time to-morrow."

Peter waited while the doctor made up the medicine, and then staggered to his cabin, where Mahmed, greatly concerned, helped his master into bed and piled blankets and a bridge-coat upon his shivering body.

It was now one bell in the first dog watch.

At two bells Peter was still awake and trembling with cold spasms⁶ when Watcher Plover hurriedly entered the cabin.

Plover had no idea that Mostyn was down with malaria, and it was not unusual for him to find Peter lying on his bunk⁷ when off duty.

"Call for the ship, sir," he reported. "No bloomin' error this time. SVP as sure's my name's Plover."

Mostyn kicked off the blankets and rolled out of the bunk. He staggered as he stood up, and would have been glad of Plover's assistance. But the Watcher, having delivered his message, had gone back to his post.

With a terrific buzzing in his ears Peter almost dragged himself along the alleyway and up the bridge-ladder. Many a time he had regretted the absence of a second wireless officer. Now, above everything, he wanted an efficient substitute; but, of course, none was available.

Entering the wireless-cabin, he picked up the telephones and gave the acknowledgment. Then, a pencil in his trembling hand, he waited for the text of the message to come through:

"SW. TLB. FEW. CNI. TLXQ. VP AELD TNI PU. AEMQ".

Yes, Peter had that all right, but, ever on the cautious side, he asked for the message to be repeated.

"Here you are," he said, handing the duplicate message to his assistant. "Nip off with that to Captain Bullock."

"Don't you look rummy, sir?" remarked Plover, noting for the first time Mostyn's drawn⁸ features.

"Am a bit," admitted Peter. "I'll be all right by the morning. Skip along."

Watcher Plover "skipped along" at his usual stolid⁹ pace to the Old Man's cabin, while Peter, almost incapable¹⁰ of controlling his trembling limbs, somehow contrived¹¹ to regain¹² his bunk.

"Signal just come through, sir," reported Plover, as he handed the pencilled form to the skipper.

"All right," replied the Old Man brusquely. "Hand me that book; the second on the left. That'll do, carry on."

It did not take Captain Bullock long to decode¹³ the message, but a frown of perplexity spread over his forehead as he read the momentous¹⁴ words.

Then he rang the bell and ordered Plover to return.

"Who received this?" he asked.

"Mr. Mostyn, sir; he had the signal repeated."

"All right. You may go."

The assurance that the Wireless Officer had personally taken down the code message removed all doubts from Captain Bullock's mind.

"Mr. Preston," he sang out.

"Ay, ay, sir,"

"Fresh orders," announced the Old Man. "Here you are: 'I have received telegraphic instructions from your owners for you to proceed straight to Bulonga, where you will unload steelwork, proceeding¹⁵ thence to Port Sudan'. Bring me the chart of the Mozambique coast, Preston, and let's see where we are—and the sailing directions while you are about it."

The Acting¹⁷ Chief hastened to fetch the required articles.

"Bulonga—that's in Mozambique," commented the Old Man. "What the blazes the Kilba Protectorate people want to have the steelwork dumped there for goodness only knows. However, it's my place to carry out instructions, Mr. Preston."

"Ay, ay, sir," concurred¹⁸ the Acting Chief without enthusiasm. He had no love for the Portuguese¹⁹ East African ports. A long spell there meant mosquitoes; mosquitoes meant malaria and other evils in its train. And there was simply nothing to see or do in these ports. Preston had "had some" before to-day.

"They give no reason for the alteration²⁰, sir?" he inquired. "I suppose by any chance we haven't got the signal incorrectly?"

"No reason, Mr. Preston," replied Captain Bullock. "And here is the signal in duplicate. Mostyn took that precaution, so I can stake my boots on its accuracy."

The two officers spent some time in poring over the chart and reading up the description of Bulonga harbour and its approaches, as set down in the Admiralty sailing directions for the east coast of Africa.

"It'll be a tight squeeze for our draught," commented the skipper. "It'll mean a Portugee pilot, worse luck. I know those gentry²¹ of old. I hope there's a British agent there to take over the Brocklington Company's consignment²²."

Had Captain Bullock known that Peter was down with a severe bout¹⁶ of malaria he would not have wagered²³ his footgear so readily, for Mostyn had made a mistake in taking in the signal. More, he had duplicated the mistake when he received the repetition at his own request.

With his head buzzing like a high-pressure boiler²⁴ Peter had read D (—..) for B (—...), his temporarily disordered sense of hearing failing to detect the slight but important difference.

Consequently, instead of the West Barbican shaping a course for Rangoon, which in the code signal appeared as AELB, she was making for the comparatively unimportant harbour of Bulonga (AELD).

The while Ludwig Schoeffer's seven-day watch was silently ticking out the seconds, minutes, and hours in the West Barbican's baggage hold. The German agent was sublimely²⁵ ignorant of the change in the ship's plans. He was still at Durban, awaiting the news that the West Barbican was overdue²⁶ and believed missing. He would have been considerably²⁷ surprised had he known that there was every likelihood of the ship sinking in Bulonga Harbour, where at low tide she would have barely enough water to lie alongside the quays²⁸.

If he had only known the vital difference that the omission²⁹ of a "dot" in the spurious signal was to cause!

1 plover   

n.珩，珩科鸟，千鸟

参考例句：

• He wondered if the plover was the fastest bird.他想知道千鸟是不是最快的鸟。
• American plover of inland waters and fields having a distinctive cry.美洲内陆水域和牧场的鸻，叫声特别。

2 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

3 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

4 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

5 perspire   

vi.出汗，流汗

参考例句：

• He began to perspire heavily.他开始大量出汗。
• You perspire a lot when you are eating.你在吃饭的时候流汗很多。

6 spasms   

n.痉挛( spasm的名词复数 )；抽搐；（能量、行为等的）突发；发作

参考例句：

• After the patient received acupuncture treatment,his spasms eased off somewhat. 病人接受针刺治疗后，痉挛稍微减轻了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The smile died, squeezed out by spasms of anticipation and anxiety. 一阵阵预测和焦虑把她脸上的微笑挤掉了。 来自辞典例句

7 bunk   

n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话

参考例句：

• He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
• Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。

8 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

9 stolid   

adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的

参考例句：

• Her face showed nothing but stolid indifference.她的脸上毫无表情，只有麻木的无动于衷。
• He conceals his feelings behind a rather stolid manner.他装作无动于衷的样子以掩盖自己的感情。

10 incapable   

adj.无能力的，不能做某事的

参考例句：

• He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
• Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。

11 contrived   

adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的

参考例句：

• There was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said.他说的话里没有任何蓄意捏造的成分。
• The plot seems contrived.情节看起来不真实。

12 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

13 decode   

vt.译（码），解（码）

参考例句：

• All he had to do was decode it and pass it over.他需要做的就是将它破译然后转给他人。
• The secret documents were intercepted and decoded.机密文件遭截获并被破译。

14 momentous   

adj.重要的，重大的

参考例句：

• I am deeply honoured to be invited to this momentous occasion.能应邀出席如此重要的场合，我深感荣幸。
• The momentous news was that war had begun.重大的新闻是战争已经开始。

15 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

16 bout   

n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛

参考例句：

• I was suffering with a bout of nerves.我感到一阵紧张。
• That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了。

17 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

18 concurred   

同意（concur的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Historians have concurred with each other in this view. 历史学家在这个观点上已取得一致意见。
• So many things concurred to give rise to the problem. 许多事情同时发生而导致了这一问题。

19 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

20 alteration   

n.变更，改变；蚀变

参考例句：

• The shirt needs alteration.这件衬衣需要改一改。
• He easily perceived there was an alteration in my countenance.他立刻看出我的脸色和往常有些不同。

21 gentry   

n.绅士阶级，上层阶级

参考例句：

• Landed income was the true measure of the gentry.来自土地的收入是衡量是否士绅阶层的真正标准。
• Better be the head of the yeomanry than the tail of the gentry.宁做自由民之首，不居贵族之末。

22 consignment   

n.寄售；发货；委托；交运货物

参考例句：

• This last consignment of hosiery is quite up to standard.这批新到的针织品完全符合规格。
• We have to ask you to dispatch the consignment immediately.我们得要求你立即发送该批货物。

23 wagered   

v.在（某物）上赌钱，打赌( wager的过去式和过去分词 )；保证，担保

参考例句：

• She always wagered on an outsider. 她总是把赌注押在不大可能获胜的马上。
• They wagered on the flesh, but knowing they were to lose. 他们把赌注下在肉体上，心里却明白必输无疑。 来自互联网

24 boiler   

n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等)

参考例句：

• That boiler will not hold up under pressure.那种锅炉受不住压力。
• This new boiler generates more heat than the old one.这个新锅炉产生的热量比旧锅炉多。

25 sublimely   

高尚地，卓越地

参考例句：

• In devotion woman is sublimely superior to man. 怜悯是女子胜过男子的德性之一。
• She was sublimely unaware of how foolish she looked. 她根本不知道她的样子多愚蠢。

26 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

27 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

28 quays   

码头( quay的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She drove across the Tournelle bridge and across the busy quays to the Latin quarter. 她驾车开过图尔内勒桥，穿过繁忙的码头开到拉丁区。
• When blasting is close to such installations as quays, the charge can be reduced. 在靠近如码头这类设施爆破时，装药量可以降低。

29 omission   

n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长

参考例句：

• The omission of the girls was unfair.把女孩排除在外是不公平的。
• The omission of this chapter from the third edition was a gross oversight.第三版漏印这一章是个大疏忽。