When Barnett come on deck very early in the morning of June 7th, he found Dr. Trendon already up and staring moodily1 out at the _Laughing Lass_. As the night was calm the tow had made fair time toward their port in the Hawaiian group. The surgeon was muttering something which seemed to Barnett to be in a foreign tongue.
"Thought out any clue, doctor?" asked the first officer.
"_Petit Chel_--Pshaw! _Jolie Celimene!_ No," muttered Trendon. "_Marie--Marie_--I've got it! The _Marie Celeste_."
"Got what? What about her?"
"Parallel case," said Trendon. "Sailed from New York back in the seventies. Seven weeks out was found derelict. Everything in perfect order. Captain's wife's hem3 on the machine. Boats all accounted for. No sign of struggle. Log written to within forty-eight hours."
"What became of the crew?"
"Wish I could tell you. Might help to unravel4 our tangle5." He shook his head in sudden, unwonted passion.
"Evidently there's something criminal in her record," said Barnett, frowning at the fusty schooner6 astern. "Otherwise the name wouldn't be painted out."
"Painted out long ago. See how rusty7 it is. Schermerhorn's work maybe," replied Trendon. "Secret expedition, remember."
"In the name of wonders, why should he do it?"
"Secret expedition, wasn't it?"
"Um-ah; that's true," said the other thoughtfully. "It's quite possible."
"Captain wishes to see both of you gentlemen in the ward2 room, if you please," came a message.
Below they found all the officers gathered. Captain Parkinson was pacing up and down in ill-controlled agitation8.
"Gentlemen," he said, "we are facing a problem which, so far as I know, is without parallel. It is my intention to bring the schooner which we have in tow to port at Honolulu. In the present unsettled weather we cannot continue to tow her. I wish two officers to take charge. Under the circumstances I shall issue no orders. The duty must be voluntary."
Instantly every man, from the veteran Trendon to the youthful paymaster, volunteered.
"That is what I expected," said Captain Parkinson quietly. "But I have still a word to say. I make no doubt in my own mind that the schooner has twice been beset9 by the gravest of perils10. Nothing less would have driven Mr. Edwards from his post. All of us who know him will appreciate that. Nor can I free myself from the darkest forebodings as to his fate and that of his companions. But as to the nature of the peril11 I am unable to make any conjecture12 worthy13 of consideration. Has anyone a theory to offer?"
There was a dead silence.
"Mr. Barnett? Dr. Trendon? Mr. Ives?"
"Is there not possibly some connection between the unexplained light which we have twice seen, and the double desertion of the ship?" suggested the first officer, after a pause.
"I have asked myself that over and over. Whatever the source of the light and however near to it the schooner may have been, she is evidently unharmed."
"Yes, sir," said Barnett. "That seems to vitiate that explanation."
"I thank you, gentlemen, for the promptitude of your offers," continued the captain. "In this respect you make my duty the more difficult. I shall accept Mr. Ives because of his familiarity with sailing craft and with these seas." His eyes ranged the group.
"I beg your pardon, Captain Parkinson," eagerly put in the paymaster, "but I've handled a schooner yacht for several years and I'd appreciate the chance of----"
"Very well, Mr. McGuire, you shall be the second in command."
"Thank you, sir."
"You gentlemen will pick a volunteer crew and go aboard at once. Spare no effort to find records of the schooner's cruise. Keep in company and watch for signals. Report at once any discovery or unusual incident, however slight."
Not so easily was a crew obtained. Having in mind the excusable superstition14 of the men, Captain Parkinson was unwilling15 to compel any of them to the duty. Awed16 by the mystery of their mates' disappearance17, the sailors hung back. Finally by temptation of extra prize money, a complement18 was made up.
At ten o'clock of a puffy, mist-laden morning a new and strong crew of nine men boarded the _Laughing Lass_. There were no farewells among the officers. Forebodings weighed too heavy for such open expression.
All the fates of weather seemed to combine to part the schooner from her convoy19. As before, the fog fell, only to be succeeded by squally rain-showers that cut out the vista20 into a checkerboard pattern of visible sea and impenetrable greyness. Before evening the _Laughing Lass_, making slow way through the mists, had become separated by a league of waves from the cruiser. One glimpse of her between mist areas the _Wolverines_ caught at sunset. Then wind and rain descended21 in furious volume from the southeast. The cruiser immediately headed about, following the probable course of her charge, which would be beaten far down to leeward22. It was a gloomy mess on the warship23. In his cabin, Captain Parkinson was frankly24 sea-sick: a condition which nothing but the extreme of nervous depression ever induced in him.
For several hours the rain fell and the gale25 howled. Then the sky swiftly cleared, and with the clearing there rose a great cry of amaze from stem to stern of the _Wolverine_. For far toward the western horizon appeared such a prodigy26 as the eye of no man aboard that ship had ever beheld27. From a belt of marvellous, glowing gold, rich and splendid streamers of light spiralled up into the blackness of the heavens.
In all the colours of the spectrum28 they rose and fell; blazing orange, silken, wonderful, translucent29 blues30, and shimmering31 reds. Below, a broad band of paler hue32, like sheet lightning fixed33 to rigidity34, wavered and rippled35. All the auroras of the northland blended in one could but have paled away before the splendour of that terrific celestial36 apparition37.
On board the cruiser all hands stood petrified38, bound in a stricture of speechless wonder. After the first cry, silence lay leaden over the ship. It was broken by a scream of terror from forward. The quartermaster who had been at the wheel came clambering down the ladder and ran along the deck, his fingers splayed and stiffened39 before him in the intensity40 of his panic.
"The needle! The compass!" he shrieked41.
Barnett ran to the wheel house with Trendon at his heels. The others followed. The needle was swaying like a cobra's head. And as a cobra's head spits venom42, it spat43 forth44 a thin, steel-blue stream of lucent fire. Then so swiftly it whirled that the sparks scattered45 from it in a tiny shower. It stopped, quivered, and curved itself upward until it rattled46 like a fairy drum upon the glass shield. Barnett looked at Trendon.
"'Mine eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord,'" muttered the surgeon in his deep bass48, as he looked forth upon the streaming, radiant heavens. "It's like nothing else."
In the west the splendour and the terror shot to the zenith. Barnett whirled the wheel. The ship responded perfectly49.
"I though she might be bewitched, too," he murmured.
"You may heal her for the light, Mr. Barnett," said Captain Parkinson calmly. He had come from his cabin, all his nervous depression gone in the face of an imminent50 and visible danger.
Slowly the great mass of steel swung to the unknown. For an hour the unknown guided her. Then fell blackness, sudden, complete. After that radiance the dazzled eye could make out no stars, but the look-out's keen vision discerned something else.
"Ship afire," he shouted hoarsely51.
"Where away?"
"Two points to leeward, near where the light was, sir."
They turned their eyes to the direction indicated, and beheld a majestic52 rolling volume of purple light. Suddenly a fiercer red shot it through.
"That's no ship afire," said Trendon. "Volcano in eruption53."
"And the other?" asked the captain.
"No volcano, sir."
"Poor Billy Edwards wins his bet," said Forsythe, in a low voice.
"God grant he's on earth to collect it," replied Barnett solemnly.
No one turned in that night. When the sun of June 8th rose, it showed an ocean bare of prospect54 except that on the far horizon where the chart showed no land there rose a smudge of dirty rolling smoke. Of the schooner there was neither sign nor trace.
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moodily
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| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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hem
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| n.贴边，镶边；vt.缝贴边；(in)包围，限制 | |
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unravel
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| v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开 | |
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tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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complement
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| n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足 | |
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convoy
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| vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队 | |
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vista
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| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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leeward
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| adj.背风的；下风的 | |
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warship
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| n.军舰，战舰 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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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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prodigy
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| n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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spectrum
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| n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列 | |
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translucent
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| adj.半透明的；透明的 | |
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blues
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| n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐 | |
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shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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rigidity
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| adj.钢性，坚硬 | |
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rippled
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| 使泛起涟漪（ripple的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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38
petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
venom
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| n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨 | |
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43
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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45
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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48
bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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50
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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51
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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52
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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53
eruption
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| n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作 | |
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54
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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