“Like to see how we take observations by and by, Mr Jack?” he said.
“With a telescope?” said Jack quickly, feeling relieved that no one asked him how he felt now.
“Well, yes, we do use a little glass in the business attached to the sextant. But you thought I meant observations of the land?”
“Yes.”
“No, we are far away from land now. We take our observations from the sun at twelve o’clock, and then I can give you the exact spot where we are upon the chart.”
“That’s curious,” said Jack.
“Yes, sir; curious, but quite commonplace now. It’s worth noticing though how cleverly scientific men have worked it out for us, and what with our instruments, the chronometer, and the nautical almanac, we only want a bit of sunshine to be able to find out our bearings and never feel afraid of being lost.”
“I’ll come and see how it’s done.”
“Do, sir, at noon; and you’ll like to see the heaving of the log as well.”
The captain was right; the wind dropped—and quite suddenly—a good hour before noon, and Jack found himself beginning to feel a little hungry and hollow inside just about the time when the sextant was brought out, but he felt interested in what was being done, and found himself beginning to think that perhaps after all there might be something during the voyage to compensate for the deprivations he was to suffer with respect to his regular studies and his books.