The Secret of the Sands; Or, The "Water Lily" and her Crew. Harry Collingwood. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Harry Collingwood
Издательство: Bookwire
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Жанр произведения: Языкознание
Год издания: 0
isbn: 4064066142292
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      “What cutter is that?”

      “The Water Lily, Royal—Yacht Club,” replied I. “What cutter is that?”

      “The Emerald, Royal Victoria,” answered our new acquaintance. “You have a singularly fast vessel under you,” continued he; “I believe I may say she is the first that ever passed me in such weather as this. I have hitherto thought that, in light winds, the Emerald has not her match afloat; yet you are stealing through my lee as if we were at anchor. I presume, by the course you are steering, that you are, like ourselves, bound to Weymouth. If so, I should like to step on board you when we arrive, if you will allow me. I am curious to see a little more of the craft that is able to slip away from us as you are doing, in our own weather. I am Lord—,” he explained, thinking, I suppose, that we should like to know who it was who thus invited himself on board a perfect stranger.

      I shouted back (for we were by this time some distance ahead of the Emerald) that I should be happy to see his lordship on board whenever he pleased to come; and then the conversation ceased, the distance between the two vessels having become too great to permit of its being continued with comfort.

      It was now Bob’s watch below; but the night was so very close that he had brought his bed on deck, and was preparing to “turn in” on the weather side of the companion for his four hours’ sleep. As he arranged the bedding to his satisfaction, he cast his eyes frequently astern to the Emerald, whose sails gleamed ghostly in the feeble light of the moon, which, in her third quarter, was just rising.

      “By George, Harry,” exclaimed he, “if they Emeralds bain’t shifting topsails, I’m a miserable sinner! Ay, there goes his ‘ballooner’ aloft. His lordship don’t like the looks of our tail, seemin’ly; but I doubt whether, in this light breeze, his big topsail will enable him to catch us. My eyes! how we did slip through his lee, sure enough! Tell ye what, Harry lad; that topsail of our’n is a good un—a rare good un for a reach, and in a moderate breeze; but we ought to have a ‘ballooner’ for running off the wind in light weather—a whacking big un, with a ‘jack’ as long as the bowsprit, and a yard as long as the lower-mast. I’m beginning to think we are under-sparred and under-sailed.”

      I could scarcely agree with Bob in this. It is true that in fine weather we could carry considerably more canvas than we had; but I had a thought for the heavy weather also, and I knew that as soon as it came on to blow we should find our present sails quite as large as we could manage. Nevertheless, I made up my mind that we would have a balloon-topsail, as the voyage would be a long one, and it was possible that we might have spells of light winds for days together, when such a sail could be carried to the utmost advantage.

      Notwithstanding the change of topsails, we still continued to creep away from the Emerald, and when we let go our anchor in Weymouth Roads, about six o’clock the next morning, she was still a good three miles outside of us; the wind had, in the meantime, fallen away so light, that it was not until after we had breakfasted that she drifted slowly in and brought up close to us.

      Shortly afterwards, Lord—came on board, accompanied by two or three friends; and his astonishment was great when he found that we only mustered two hands, all told. He noticed the absence of a boat from our decks, and inquired whether we had lost ours, and was still more astonished when we informed him that it was taken to pieces and stowed snugly away below.

      This led to a request that he might be allowed to see it; and gradually it all came out that we were bound on nothing less than a voyage to the Pacific.

      He was by no means inquisitive; his questions were merely such as one yachtsman would naturally put to another. But we knew beforehand that it would be difficult to conceal the fact that we were not merely cruising for pleasure; so we had come to the conclusion that it would be best to put a bold face upon the matter, and state at once that we were going a long trip; and Bob had proposed that, in the event of any questions being asked, we should give out that we were going to seek for some traces of my father.

      To this I willingly agreed, as I really meant, if possible, to endeavour to find some clue to his fate; though I could not help acknowledging to myself that, if we did make any discoveries, it would be by the merest accident.

      Lord—seemed to be singularly struck with the model of the Water Lily; the only fault he found with her being the deficiency of head-room below. This fault, however, was inseparable from her peculiar shape, for, as I have already stated, she had a very shallow body, and a flat floor; and although she drew seven feet of water aft, her depth below her platform was entirely taken up with the ballast and water-tank, leaving only a height of four feet between the top of the platform and the under side of the beams; she was, in short, an exceedingly small craft for her tonnage.

      We went ashore in his lordship’s boat at his invitation; and as I casually mentioned that I meant on the morrow to put our “boat” together and give her a trial, he very kindly offered to accompany us in the Emerald.

      My sister was, of course, delighted to see us both, and equally delighted to hear how thoroughly satisfied we were with our little vessel. It was evident that she had not quite conquered her apprehensions on the score of our long voyage in so small a craft; but our eulogiums upon the Water Lily’s many good qualities were so enthusiastic, and the confidence we expressed in her sea-going powers so thorough, that Ada soon came to regard the voyage as in no degree more perilous than it would have been if undertaken in a vessel of four or five hundred tons.

      We did not think it necessary to point out to her that we should probably be exposed to many perils besides those of the sea; and so the dear girl became satisfied, and learned to contemplate our speedy departure with comparative equanimity.

      The next morning we made arrangements with a boatman for the hire of his punt during the short time that we intended to remain in Weymouth, as we wished our tubular boat to come into use only when we had no other to fall back upon.

      Having struck our bargain, Bob and I jumped into the hired punt, and rowed off to the Water Lily, which lay at anchor in the roadstead.

      It was necessary to pass close to the Emerald to reach our own craft, and as we pulled under her stern, Lord—hailed us to know whether we still intended to make our trial trip, and, if so, how long it would be ere we should be ready.

      I replied that I hoped to be ready in about an hour, whereupon his lordship jumped into his boat to pay a visit to the post-office, saying he would be back in time to go out with us.

      As soon as we got on board the Water Lily, we got our tubes on deck, screwed the different sections together, and launched them overboard. The framework connecting the two tubes together, and supporting the stage or deck, was next fixed; then the deck itself, which was in three pieces, and so contrived that, when properly put together and laid in its place, a single bolt secured the whole immovably. Our centre-board and rudder were soon in their places, and nothing remained but to step the mast and bowsprit, set up the rigging, bend sails, and be off.

      These latter operations took but a very short time, as every device had been adopted which would facilitate the boat’s equipment; and, having timed ourselves, we found that our boat was ready and under weigh within an hour of the time at which we had first begun to work at her. We considered this very smart work, but we hoped to shorten the time considerably after a little practice.

      We took a few turns in the bay, whilst the Emerald was getting under weigh, and tried a few manoeuvres with perfect success. There was only one thing about which we had any doubt, and that was whether she would stay or no. In the smooth water close to the shore (the wind was strong, from the south-west that day) she tacked beautifully, head-reaching a long way in stays; and later on in the day we found that in this respect rough water made very little difference to her, owing to the peculiar shape of her tubes.

      It was blowing a strong breeze from the south-west, as I have already said, and we took down a reef in our mainsail, whilst the Emerald started under trysail and jib, keeping her mainsail stowed so as not to run away from