第121章
THE _Springbok_ arrived in due course at longitude 103 deg. 31 min., but saw no island. This was dispiriting; but still Captain Moreland did not despair.
He asked General Rolleston to examine the writing casefully, and tell him was that Miss Rolleston's handwriting.
The general shook his head sorrowfully. "No," said he; "it is nothing like my child's hand."
"Why, all the better," said Captain Moreland; "the lady has got somebody about her who knows a thing or two. The man that could catch wild ducks and turn 'em into postmen could hit on the longitude somehow; and he doesn't pretend to be exact in the latitude."
Upon this he ran northward four hundred miles; which took him three days; for they stopped at night.
No island.
He then ran south five hundred miles; stopping at night.
No island.
Then he took the vessel zigzag.
Just before sunset, one lovely day, the man at the mast-head sang out:
"On deck there!"
"Hullo!"
"Something in sight; on our weather-bow."
"What is it?"
"Looks like a mast. No. Don't know what it is."
"Point."
The sailor pointed with his finger.
Captain Moreland ordered the ship's course to be altered accordingly. By this time General Rolleston was on deck. The ship ran two miles on the new course; and all this time the topman's glass was leveled, and the crew climbed about the rigging all eyes and ears.
At last the clear hail came down.
"I can make it out now, sir."
"What is it?
"It is a palm-tree."
The captain jumped on a gun, and waved his hat grandly, and instantly the vessel rang with a lusty cheer; and, for once, sailors gabbled like washerwomen.
They ran till they saw the island in the moonlight, and the giant palm, black, and sculptured out of the violet sky; then they set the lead going, and it warned them not to come too close. They anchored off the west coast.
A daybreak they moved slowly on, still sounding as they went; and, rounding the West Point, General Rolleston saw written on the guanoed rocks in large letters AN ENGLISH LADY WRECKED HERE. HASTE TO HER RESCUE.
He and Moreland shook hands; and how their eyes glistened!
Presently there was a stranger inscription still upon the rocks--a rough outline of the island on an enormous scale, showing the coast-line, the reefs, the shallow water, and the deep water.
"Ease her! Stop her!"
The captain studied this original chart with his glass, and crept slowly on for the west passage.
But, warned by the soundings marked on the rock, he did not attempt to go through the passage, but came to an anchor, and lowered his boat.
The sailors were all on the _qui vive_ to land, but the captain, to their infinite surprise, told them only three persons would land that morning--himself, his son, and General Rolleston.
The fact is, this honest captain had got a misgiving, founded on a general view of human nature. He expected to find the girl with two or three sailors, one of them united to her by some nautical ceremony, duly witnessed, but such as a _military_ officer of distinction could hardly be expected to approve. He got into the boat in a curious state of delight, dashed with uncomfortable suspense; and they rowed gently for the west passage.