The Captain of the Kansas | Page 9

a
sorry exchange for the sunny skies of Chile.
Though the Kansas was not a fast ship, she could have made the
entrance to the Straits on the evening of the fourth day were not
Captain Courtenay wishful to navigate the most dangerous part of the
narrows by daylight. His intent, therefore, was to pick up the
Evangelistas light about midnight, and then crack ahead at fourteen
knots, so as to be off Felix Point on Desolation Island by dawn.

This was not only a prudent and seamanlike course but it would
conduce to the comfort of the passengers. The ship was now running
into a stiff gale. Each hour the sea became heavier, and even the eight
thousand tons of the Kansas felt the impact of the giant rollers on her
starboard bow. Dinner, therefore, promised to be a meal of much
discomfort, cheered only by the knowledge that as soon as the vessel
reached the lee of Desolation Island the giant waves of the Pacific
would lose their power, and all on board would enjoy a quiet night's
rest.
There were no absentees at the table. Dr. Christobal strove to enliven
the others with the promise of peace ere many hours had passed.
"Pay no heed to those fellows!" he cried, as the ship quivered under the
blow of a heavy sea, and they heard the thud of many tons of water
breaking over the bows and fore hatch, while the defeated monster
washed the tightly screwed ports with a venomous swish. "They cannot
harm us now. Let us rather thank kindly Providence which provided
Magellan's water-way; think what it would mean were we compelled to
weather the Cape."
"I am beginning to catch on to the reasonableness of that toast of yours,
doctor," said one of the mining engineers, a young American. "I happen
to be a tee-totaler, but I don't mind opening a bottle of the best for the
general welfare when we shove our nose past the Cape of the large
number of young and unprotected females."
Christobal raised his hand.
"All in good time," he said. "Never halloo for the prairie until you are
clear of the forest. If the wind remains in its present quarter, we are
fortunate. Should it happen to veer round to the eastward, and you see
the rocks of Tierra del Fuego lashed by the choppy sea that can run
even through a land-locked channel, you will be ready to open two
bottles as a thanks-offering. Is this your first trip round by the south?"
"Yes, I crossed by way of Panama. Guess a mule-track over the Sierras
is a heap better than the Pacific in a gale. Jee-whizz!"

A spiteful sea sprang at the Kansas and shook her from stem to stern.
The ship groaned and creaked as though she were in pain; she
staggered an instant, and then swung irresistibly forward with a fierce
plunge that made the plates dance and cutlery rattle in the fiddles.
"I suppose we must endure five hours of this," said Elsie, bravely.
"I don't like it. Why does not Captain Courtenay, or even Mr. Boyle,
put in an appearance? I have hardly seen either of them since the day I
came aboard."
Isobel was petulant, and perhaps a little frightened. She had not yet
reached that stage of confidence familiar to all who cross the open seas.
The first period of a gale is terrifying. Later there comes an indifference
born of supreme trust in the ship. The steady onward thrust of the
engines--the unwavering path across the raging vortex of tumbling gray
waters--the orderly way in which the members of the crew follow their
duties--these are quietly persistent factors in the gradual soothing of the
nerves. Many a timid passenger, after lying awake through a night of
terror, has gone to sleep when the watch began to swab the deck
overhead. Not even a Spartan sailor would begin to wash woodwork if
the ship were sinking.
"All ladies like to see an officer in the saloon during a storm,"
commented Christobal. "I plead guilty to a weakness in that direction
myself, though I know he is much better employed on the bridge."
"The captain cannot be on the bridge always," said Isobel.
"He is seldom far from it in bad weather, if he is faithful to his trust.
And I fancy we would all admit that Captain Courtenay--"
A curious shock, sharper and altogether more penetrating than the
Thor's hammer blow of a huge wave, sounded loud and menacing in
their ears. The ship trembled violently, and then became strangely still.
The least experienced traveler on board knew that the engines had
stopped. They felt a long lurch to port when the next sea climbed over
the bows; at once the Kansas