Captain Dinks and Mr Meldrum looked at each other in blank dismay; for, the gale seemed to be rising again, while the sea got rougher and rougher every moment, and dark masses of cloud began to pile themselves up along the horizon to seaward. If they were unable to beach the ship soon it was but only too apparent that she would sink from under them in deep water, when—God help those on board!
Suddenly, however, when hope abandoned them both, there was a break in the dark sky just overhead and a bit of blue was to be seen, followed presently by a gleam of sunshine which sent a ray of comfort into their hearts and bid them not utterly despair. This caused one, at least, to pluck up his courage again.
“It is close on noon now,” said Mr Meldrum, speaking cheerfully, “we had better take an observation, so as to see where we precisely are.”
“And what good will that do us?” asked the Captain disconsolately; “no amount of observations are of any use to us now.”
But he fetched out his sextant all the same, as well for the mere sake of doing “something” as to oblige Mr Meldrum; and taking advantage of a favourable opportunity, he “took” the sun.
“We’re in 49 degrees 10 minutes south latitude,” he observed after a short interval during which he had been calculating his reckoning, “and 68 degrees 45 minutes east longitude—if that information can help us!”
“I’ll soon tell you,” answered Mr Meldrum stretching out on the binnacle a chart of Kerguelen Land which he had brought up from the cabin, and marking on it the position of the ship with a pencil. “Yes, it’s exactly as I thought just now. You see that headland, there to starboard? That is the promontory put down here as Cape Saint Louis; and if we can get round it, there, as you see in the chart, we’ll find ourselves in a large sheltered bay, safe from the ocean swell, where we can run her ashore with ease. Why, it is the very thing! how providential it was that I put in this chart by accident along with some others of the Pacific I had amongst my papers! I didn’t know I had it till the other day.”
“Ah,” said Captain Dinks, returning to the main question, “but how are we going to weather the point, eh? That’s the difficulty.”
“We may do it yet,” replied Mr Meldrum, whose hopes appeared to rise the more the Captain seemed determined to look gloomily on the outlook. “You can see for yourself that we are drifting equally as much to the south as we are sailing towards the coast, and making about the same progress each way. From this circumstance I have little doubt that there is a considerable current running southwards; and if so, it may carry us round the cape—especially should the wind shift to the northward.”
“Aye, if it should!” said Captain Dinks sarcastically.