[pg 74] "No wonder him hungry," that young monkey Nassaline said, with profound condolence, "if him don't hab nuffin to eat for ten day long but unripe11 banana." Anything that concerned the human stomach always touched a most tender and responsive chord in Nassaline's sympathies.
At eight bells when my watch was up, I went off for a quiet snooze to my cabin. I knew I should be wanted for hot work about three in the morning, for I didn't expect to effect the rescue without a hard fight for it; so I thought it best to get what sleep I could before arriving at the islands. So I lay in my berth12, with my eyes shut, and a thin sheet spread over me (for it was broiling13 hot tropical weather), and I was just beginning to doze14 off in comfort, when suddenly I felt something move under me like a young earthquake. Next minute I was jolted15 clean out of my bed, with such a jerk that I thought at first we were all going to sleep on the bed of the ocean.
"Halloo," I cried out to Jim up atop, rushing [pg 75] out of my cabin. "What's up? Anything wrong? What's happened?"
"Grazed a reef, I guess," Jim shouted back, calmly. "No land in sight, but shoal water and breakers ahead. We seem to be in danger."
Cool chap, Jim, under no matter what circumstances. But this looked serious. In a second I was up, and peering out over the bows into the dark black water. The Albatross had slowed, and was reversing engines. All round us we could see great heaving breakers.
"No land hereabouts," Jim sung out, consulting the chart once more. "We ought to be at least five miles to suth'ard of the Great Caycos Band Reef."
As he spoke16, I saw Martin's white face appearing suddenly at the top of the companion-ladder. He flung up his hands in an agony of despair. "Oh, how terrible!" the poor lad blurted17 out in his misery18. "I ought to have remembered! I ought to have told you! Father says the charts hereabouts are all many [pg 76] miles wrong in their bearings. The Caycos Reef lies six or seven knots south by west of the point it's marked at!"
In a ferment19 of anxiety I turned up our other Sydney charts at once to test his statement. Sure enough there was a discrepancy20, a considerable discrepancy, both in latitude21 and longitude22, between the two maps. At the margin23 of one I read this vague and uncomfortable note—"These islands are reported by certain navigators to lie further south and west than here laid down, and have never been accurately24 surveyed by good authorities. Careful navigation by day alone is recommended to master mariners25."
Jim looked at me, and I looked at Jim. What on earth could we do in such a fix as this? To go on in the dark, with unknown reefs before us, was to imperil the Albatross and all on board; to cast anchor where we stood and hold back till daylight was to risk not arriving in time to rescue the unfortunate missionary26 with [pg 77] his wife and family. I glanced at the boy's white face as he stood by the companion-ladder, and made up my mind at once. Come what might, I must push forward and save them.
"Slow engines," I called down the pipe, "and proceed half-speed till further orders. Jim, go for'ard, and keep a sharp eye on the breakers. As soon as we're clear, we'll steam ahead full pelt27 again, and risk going ashore28 sooner than leave these poor folks on the island to be cruelly massacred."
"Thank you," the boy said, with an ashy face, and lay down upon the deck, unmanned and trembling. His lips were as white, I give you my word, as this sheet of paper I'm this moment writing upon.
For a hundred yards or so we slowed, and went ahead without coming to any further stop; then suddenly, a sharp thud—a dull sound of grating—a thrill through the ship; and Jim, looking up from in front, with a cool face as usual, called out at the top of his voice, but [pg 78] with considerable annoyance30, "By Jove, we're aground again!"
And so we were, this time with a vengeance31.
"Back her," I called out, "back her hard, Jenkins!" and they backed her as hard as the engines could spurt32; but nothing came of it. We were jammed on the reef about as tight as a ship could stick, and no power on earth could ever have got us off till the tide rose again.
Well, we tried our very hardest, reversing engines first, and then putting them forward again to see if we could run through it by main force; but it was all in vain. Aground we were, and aground we must remain till there was depth of water enough on the reef to float us.
Fortunately the tide was rising fast, and three hours more would see us out of our difficulties. Three hours was a very serious delay; but I calculated if we got off the reef by two in the morning, we should still have time to reach Tanaki pretty comfortably before seven. We must enter the harbor by daylight, no doubt, [pg 79] which would perhaps be dangerous; because when the savages saw us arrive, they might make haste to cut the white people's throats before we could get up to rescue them. But I thought it more likely they would try to save them, to prevent our opening fire upon them by way of punishment; so with what comfort we could, we stuck on upon the reef, and waited for the inevitable33 tide to come and float us.
Waiting for the tide is always slow business.
At about half-past one, however, the water began to deepen under the ship, and we could feel her rise and fall—bump, bump, bump—with each onslaught of the breakers. Now bumping on a reef isn't exactly wholesome34 for a ship's bottom, so I gave the word to Jenkins for the engines to go to work again; and presently, after two or three unsuccessful attempts, we got her safe off, by energetic reversing, and found to our great delight that the Albatross, like a tight little craft that she was, had sprung no leak, and was making no water. Her sound [pg 80] old timbers had just grazed the surface of that flat-topped reef without suffering any serious internal injury.
As soon as we were free, and had examined our hold, I shouted down once more, "Now forward, boys, as hard as you can go, and mind, Jenkins, you make her travel!"
To my immense surprise, instead of obeying my orders, the Albatross suddenly stood stock-still in the trough of a wave, drifting helplessly about like a log on the ocean.
"Now then," I shouted down again, half angry and half alarmed. "What are you doing there, Jenkins? Didn't you hear what I said? Stir your stumps35, my friend! Double time, and forward!"
Imagine my horror when the engineer shouted back in a voice of blank dismay, "I can't, sir. She won't work. Don't answer to the valve. We've injured something in backing her off the reef there."
This was an awkward job. And at such a crisis, too! In a minute I was down in the [pg 81] engine-room myself, inspecting all the valves and bearings with lamp in hand, and with the closest scrutiny36. Before long we had ascertained37 the extent of the injury. A piece of the engine was broken that would certainly take us six or eight hours to repair. And it was already two o'clock on the Wednesday morning!
But that wasn't all, either. Another serious difficulty beset38 us in our work. We were beating about in the angry sea off the Caycos Reef, with the breakers dashing in, and the surf running high. If we tried to mend the broken engine where we stood, we should infallibly be dashed to pieces on the dangerous shallows. You can't go to work like that on a lee shore, with no engine to fall back upon, and the wind blowing half a gale39. The only thing possible for us was to hoist40 sail and make for the open sea to southward under all canvas. That was taking us further away from Tanaki, of course; but it was our one chance of getting our engine repaired in peace and quiet.
[pg 82] So we hoisted41 sail and stood out to sea once more, leaving the dim long line of surf gradually behind us on the lee, and beating by constant tacks42 against the wind, which had now veered43 to the southeast, and was blowing us straight on to the Caycos shallows.
By four o'clock we'd got so far out that we thought we might lie to a bit and take a few hands off navigating44 duty to assist the engineer in repairing his engine.
But it proved a much more difficult and lengthy45 task to retrieve46 the mischief47 than we had at first sight at all anticipated. The minutes went by with appalling48 rapidity. Five o'clock came, and the smith was only just getting his iron well hammered into shape. Six o'clock, and the engineer was still fitting the place it came from. Seven o'clock—something wrong, surely, with the ship's time! Before this hour I had hoped to be anchored off the harbor of Tanaki.
Seven o'clock on Wednesday morning; and [pg 83] by twelve at noon, so the boys assured us, the ovens would be made hot at Taranaka's tomb for those unfortunate prisoners on the remote island!
Oh, how frantically50 we worked for the next two hours! and how remorselessly everything seemed to turn against us! How is it that whenever one's in the greatest hurry all nature seems to conspire51 to defeat one's purpose? I won't attempt to explain to you all the petty mishaps52 and unfortunate failures that attended our efforts. It seemed as if iron, wood, and coal—all inanimate matter itself—was banded together to make our further approach to Tanaki impossible. By nine o'clock I knew the worst myself. The breakdown53 to the engine was far more serious than we had at first imagined. I felt sure that before noon at earliest, with all our skill and toil54, we couldn't possibly repair it.
But I shrank from telling those two poor trembling lads that there was no hope now left of saving their parents.
[pg 84] Gradually, however, as the day wore on, they discovered it themselves—they saw that the golden opportunity had been lost for us. As each hour passed by they told us with ever redoubled horror what they knew must at that moment be passing on the island. Now the savages would be bringing their father out before the prison hut, and sacrificing him with their tomahawks by the hideous55 blood-stained altar of their great dead chieftain. Now their poor mother would be crouching56 on the ground, trying in vain to protect their helpless little brother. Now Miriam herself, little golden-haired, three-year-old, innocent Miriam—but at that last horror they broke down in tears, and could say no more. They could only sob57 and hide their faces in their hands with speechless agony at that unspeakable picture.
By noon we knew the worst must be over. They were at rest now, poor souls, from their month-long misery. The afternoon dragged on and we still worked hard on the mere49 chance [pg 85] of some respite58 which might enable us to rescue them. But we felt sure the end had come for all that. We worked away by the mere force of pure aimless energy. It distracted us from thinking of the awful events which we nevertheless in our hearts felt certain must have happened.
It was eight at night before we got the Albatross fairly under way again; and even then she lumbered59 slowly, slowly on, the engine being only somehow repaired, in the most clumsy fashion, till we could reach harbor once more, and quietly overhaul60 her.
So we steamed ahead, feebly and cautiously, all night long, keeping a sharp lookout61 for land across our bows, and with Martin on deck almost all the time, to aid us by his close personal knowledge of the island approaches.
Wednesday the tenth was over now. The terrible day had come and gone. We didn't doubt that the massacre29 was completed long before the clock struck one on Thursday morning.
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1
captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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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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gnawed
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| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
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asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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unripe
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| adj.未成熟的；n.未成熟 | |
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berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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broiling
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| adj.酷热的，炽热的，似烧的v.（用火）烤（焙、炙等）( broil的现在分词 )；使卷入争吵；使混乱；被烤（或炙） | |
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14
doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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jolted
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| （使）摇动， （使）震惊( jolt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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blurted
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| v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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ferment
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| vt.使发酵；n./vt.（使）激动，（使）动乱 | |
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discrepancy
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| n.不同；不符；差异；矛盾 | |
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latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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longitude
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| n.经线，经度 | |
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margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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mariners
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| 海员，水手（mariner的复数形式） | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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pelt
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| v.投掷，剥皮，抨击，开火 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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30
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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spurt
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| v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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35
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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hoist
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| n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起 | |
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41
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
tacks
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| 大头钉( tack的名词复数 )； 平头钉； 航向； 方法 | |
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43
veered
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| v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转 | |
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44
navigating
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| v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃 | |
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45
lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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46
retrieve
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| vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索 | |
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47
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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48
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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49
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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50
frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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51
conspire
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| v.密谋，（事件等）巧合，共同导致 | |
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52
mishaps
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| n.轻微的事故，小的意外( mishap的名词复数 ) | |
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53
breakdown
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| n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌 | |
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54
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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55
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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56
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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57
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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respite
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| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
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59
lumbered
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| 砍伐（lumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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60
overhaul
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| v./n.大修，仔细检查 | |
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lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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