ERRORS EXCEPTED.
It was Thursday the eleventh, in the small hours of the morning. The
_Albatross_ was lumbering along as best she might with her broken
engine, and we were nearing the line of 180°. We weren't making much
way, however, for the speed was low; and we hadn't so much reason for
hurrying now, for we felt almost hopeless of being in time to prevent
the threatened massacre. Our people, we feared, had long since fallen
victims to the superstition and bloodthirstiness of the ungrateful
savages.
I was asleep in my berth after the fatigues of the day, and was dreaming
of my dear little girl in England; when suddenly I felt a clammy cold
hand laid upon my own outside the coverlet, and waking with a start, I
saw Martin Luther standing pale and white in his blue shirt and trousers
before me. I knew at once by his face something fresh had turned up.
"Goodness gracious, boy," I exclaimed, "what on earth's the matter now?"
"Captain Braithwaite," he answered with very solemn seriousness, "I've
been counting the days over and over again, and I'm quite sure there's a
mistake somewhere. We've got a day wrong in our reckoning, I'm certain.
I've counted up each day and night a hundred times over since we left
Tanaki in the boat--Jack and I--and I feel confident you're twenty-four
hours out in your reckoning. Yesterday wasn't Wednesday the tenth at
all. It was Tuesday the ninth, and we may yet reach Tanaki in time to
save them."
"No, no, my boy," I answered, "you're wrong; you're wrong. Your natural
anxiety about your father's fate has upset your calculations. To-day's
the eleventh; yesterday was the tenth. Till we get to the meridian of
180°"--and then, with a start, I broke off suddenly.
"What's the matter?" Martin cried, for he saw at once I was faltering
and hesitating. "Ah, you see I was right now. You see this morning's the
tenth, don't you?"
In a moment the truth flashed across me with a burst. I saw it all; the
only wonder was how on earth I had failed so long to perceive it. I
seized the poor lad's hand in a fervor of delight, relief and
exultation.
"Martin," I cried, overjoyed, "we are both of us right in our own way of
reckoning. This morning's the eleventh on board the _Albatross_ here,
but it's the tenth, I don't doubt, in your island at Tanaki!"
"What do you mean?" he cried, astonished, and gazing at me as if he
thought me rather more than half-mad. "How on earth can it be Thursday
here, while it's Wednesday at Tanaki?"
"Hold on a bit, youngster," said I, jumping out of my cabin, "till I've
consulted the chart and made quite sure about it. Let me see. Here we
are. Duke of Cumberland's Islands, 179° west. Hooray! Hooray!" I waved
the chart round my head in triumph. "Jim, Jim!" I shouted out, rushing
up the companion-ladder in my night-shirt as I stood; "here's a hope
indeed! Here's splendid news. Put on all steam at once and we may save
them yet. Tanaki's the other side of 180!"
Jim looked at me in astonishment.
"Why, what on earth do you mean, Julian?" he asked. "What on earth has
that to do with our chance of saving them?"
"Jim," I cried once more, hardly knowing how to contain myself with
excitement and reaction; "was there ever such a precious pair of fools
in the world before as you and me, my good fellow? It's Wednesday
morning in Tanaki, man! It's Wednesday in Tanaki! Tanaki's the other
side of 180!"
As I said the words, Jim jumped at me like a wild creature and grasped
my hand hard. Then he caught Martin in his arms and hugged him as tight
as if he'd been his own father. After that he threw his cap up in the
air and shouted aloud with delight. And when he'd quite finished all
those remarkable performances, he looked hard into my face and burst out
laughing.
"Well, upon my soul, Julian," he said, "for a couple of seasoned old
Pacific travelers, I do agree with you that a pair of bigger fools and
stupider dolts than you and I never sailed the ocean!"
"If it had been our first voyage across now," I said to Jim, feeling
thoroughly ashamed of myself for my silly mistake, "there might have
been some excuse for us!"
"Or if the boy hadn't told us there was a discrepancy in the accounts
the very first day he ever came aboard," he added solemnly.
"But as it is," I went on, "such a scholar's mate, such a beginner's
blunder as this is for two seafaring men--why, it's absolutely
inexcusable!"
"Absolutely inexcusable!" Jim repeated, penitently.
"But if we clap on all steam we may get there yet on Wednesday morning,"
I continued, consulting my watch.
"By three or four o'clock on Wednesday morning," Jim echoed, examining
the chart once more, and carefully noting the ship's position. "Why,
it's Wednesday now, Julian. We've crossed 180°."
"But what day was yesterday?" Martin asked, all trembling.
"Why, yesterday," I answered, "was Wednesday the tenth, my boy; but
to-day is Wednesday the tenth also. It comes twice over at this
longitude. We've gained a day; that's the long and the short of it. We
ought to have known it, my brother and I, who are such old hands at
cruising in and out of the islands; but our anxiety and distress made us
clean forget it."
"How does that come about?" Martin asked bewildered, his lips white as
death.
"Just like this," said I. "Sailing one way, you see, from England, you
sail with the sun; and sailing the other way, you sail against it. In
one direction you keep gaining time, and in the other you lose it."
"The meridian of 180° is the particular place where the two modes of
reckoning reach their climax," I hastened to add. "So, when you get to
180°, sailing west, you lose a day, and Saturday's followed right off by
Monday. But sailing east, you gain a day, and have two Sundays running,
or whatever else the day may be when you happen to get there. Now, we're
going in the right direction for gaining a day; and so, though yesterday
was Wednesday the tenth the other side of 180°, to-day's Wednesday the
tenth, don't you see, this side of it? And as Tanaki's this side, your
people must always have reckoned by the American day, so to speak, while
we've reckoned all along by the Australian one. It's this morning those
savages threatened to kill your father and mother, and if we make a good
run, we shall still perhaps be in time to save them."
As I spoke, the boy's knees trembled under him with excitement. He
staggered so that he caught at a rope for support. He was too much in
earnest to cry, but the tears stood still in his eyes without falling.
"Oh! I hope to Heaven we'll be in time," he answered. "We may save them!
We may save them!"
I went below and turned in once more for a little sleep, for I knew I
should be wanted later in the morning; and having fortunately the true
sailor's habit in that matter of dozing off whenever occasion occurred,
I was soon snoring away again most comfortably on my pillow. At
half-past three, Tom Blake came down once more to wake me.
"Land in sight, sir," he said, "on our starboard bow, and this young
fellow Martin says he makes it out to be the north point of Tanaki."
In a minute I was on deck again, and peering at the dim land through the
gray mist of morning--the same gray mist through which, as we afterwards
learned, the poor creatures in the heathen temple saw the dawn break of
the day that was to end their earthly troubles. It was Tanaki, no doubt,
for Martin was quite sure he could recognize the headlands and the
barrier reef. Our only question now was how next to proceed. We held a
brief little council of war on deck, with Martin as our chief adviser on
the local situation.
From what he told us, I came rapidly to the conclusion that it would be
useless to attempt an open entrance into the little harbor of Makilolo,
where the Chief had his hut, and where the mission-people, as we
believed, were still confined in the temple. To do so would only be to
arouse the anger of the savages beforehand; and unless we could get them
well between a cross fire, and so effectually prevent any further
outrage, we feared they might massacre the unhappy people in their hands
the moment we hove in sight to enter the harbor. But here our friend
Martin's local knowledge of the archipelago helped us out of our
difficulty. He could pilot us, he said, to a retired bay at the back of
the island, by the east side, where we could land a small party in
boats, well armed with Sniders and our Winchester repeater; and Jack,
who had slept all night, and was therefore the fresher of the two, would
show us a path through the thick tropical underbrush by which we could
approach the village from the rear, while the _Albatross_ ran round
again with the remainder of the crew, and brought our brass
thirty-pounder to bear upon the savages from the open harbor.
This plan was at once received with universal approbation, and we
proceeded forthwith to put it into execution.
Steering cautiously round the island, under cover of the mist, and
fortunately unperceived by the assembled natives, who were too much
occupied with their _sing-sing_ to be engaged in scanning the offing, we
reached at last the little retired bay of which Martin had spoken, and
got ready our boat to land our military party. It was ticklish work, for
we could afford to land only ten, all told, with Jack for our guide; but
each man was armed with a good rifle and ammunition, and the habit of
discipline made our little band, we believed, more than a match for
those untutored savages. Nassaline, also, joined the military party,
while seven men were left as a naval reserve. Silently and cautiously we
landed on the white sandy beach, and turned with Jack into the thick
tangled brake of tropical brushwood.
Meanwhile, my brother Jim, with Martin to guide him, undertook to take
the _Albatross_ round to the regular harbor; for Martin fortunately knew
every twist and turn of those tortuous reef-channels, having been
accustomed to navigate them from his childhood upwards, both in the
mission-boat and in the native canoes which frequently put to sea for
the _bêche-de-mer_ fishery.
Our plan of action, as arranged beforehand, was for the military party
to wait about in the woods at the back of the village till the
_Albatross_ hove in sight off the mouth of the harbor. Then, the moment
she appeared, she was to fire a blank shot towards the Chief's hut with
her thirty-pounder; and at the same moment, we of the surprise party
were to fall upon the savages, and before they could recover from their
first surprise, demand the instant restitution of the missionary and his
family.
Everything depended now upon the two boys. If Jack failed to show us the
path aright--if Martin drove the _Albatross_ upon reef or rock--all
would be up with us, and the savages would massacre our whole party in
cold blood, as they proposed to do with Macglashin and his little ones.
I trembled to think on how slender a thread those four precious human
lives depended. After all, they were but lads, mere children almost, and
the rash confidence of youth might easily deceive them. But I decided,
none the less, to trust to their instincts and their keen affection for
their friends to see us through in our need. If that wouldn't lead us
right, I felt sure in my own soul no human aid could possibly save the
unhappy prisoners.