It was the first dog watch. Pitts could not get up a regular dinner, for the pots and pans would not stay on the galley; but he gave the ship's company enough to eat. The racks, or "fiddles," on the table in the cabin kept the dishes in tolerable order. After the meal the captain called all hands, and succeeded in heaving the log, which, to his astonishment, gave thirteen knots. He concluded that there must be some mistake, and he repeated the operation with the same result.
"I don't understand it, Don," said he. "Have you been driving the engine?"
"The last time I looked at the revolutions, I thought she must be making about eleven knots," replied the second engineer. "The furnace has a big draught in this wind, and the sail helps her a couple of knots."
The captain did not object to the speed. The steamer went along without incident or accident, and by this time the ship's company had become accustomed to the motion. Southerly storms are not usually of long duration, and at midnight the gale broke, though the sea was still disturbed. The watches were regularly kept, the lookout man attending to the sail on the upper deck. In the morning the wind had shifted to the south-west.
CHAPTER XXXII
THE MEETING OF THE TWO STEAMERS
"Where are we now, Captain Scott?" asked Louis, who had just finished his breakfast, as he went into the pilot-house to relieve the starboard watch.
Morris was with him, and he took the wheel according to the programme which had been laid down in the beginning of the voyage. This was at eight o'clock on the second morning of the trip. The captain had his chart table in use when they entered, with Felix at the wheel.
"Where are we now is the question; and I can't guess the conundrum exactly, for I don't know how fast we have been running during the night," replied Scott. "Our standard speed is ten knots an hour; but the log last evening showed that we were doing three knots better than that."
Then he looked at a station-bill he had made out in pencil which was tacked to the starboard door for the want of a better place. It showed all the watches, who served on them, the number of hours from Europa Point, from which the departure was made, and the number of miles run at the end of each watch, figured at the standard speed.