OCTOBER 30th.--Once again I talked to M. Letourneur about our situation,
and endeavoured to animate him with the hope that we should not be
detained for long in our present predicament; but he could not be
brought to take a very sanguine view of our prospects.
“But surely,” I protested, “it will not be difficult to throw overboard
a few hundred bales of cotton; two or three days at most will suffice
for that.”
“Likely enough,” he replied, “when the business is once begun; but you
must remember, Mr. Kazallon, that the very heart of the cargo is still
smouldering, and that it will still be several days before any one will
be able to venture into the hold. Then the leak, too, that has to be
caulked; and, unless it is stopped up very effectually, we shall be
only doomed most certainly to perish at sea. Don’t, then, be deceiving
yourself; it must be three weeks at least before you can expect to put
out to sea. I can only hope meanwhile that the weather will continue
propitious; it wouldn’t take many storms to knock the ‘Chancellor,’
shattered as she is, completely into pieces.”
Here, then, was the suggestion of a new danger to which we were to be
exposed; the fire might be extinguished, the water might be got rid of
by the pumps, but, after all, we must be at the mercy of the wind and
waves; and, although the rocky island might afford a temporary refuge
from the tempest, what was to become of passengers and crew if the
vessel should be reduced to a total wreck? I made no remonstrance,
however, to this view of our case, but merely asked M. Letourneur if he
had confidence in Robert Curtis?
“Perfect confidence,” he answered; “and I acknowledge it most
gratefully, as a providential circumstance, that Captain Huntly had
given him the command in time. Whatever man can do I know that Curtis
will not leave undone to extricate us from our dilemma.”
Prompted by this conversation with M. Letourneur I took the first
opportunity of trying to ascertain from Curtis himself, how long he
reckoned we should be obliged to remain upon the reef; but he merely
replied, that it must depend upon circumstances, and that he hoped the
weather would continue favourable. Fortunately the barometer is rising
steadily, and there is every sign of a prolonged calm.
Meantime Curtis is taking active measures for totally extinguishing the
fire. He is at no great pains to spare the cargo, and as the bales that
lie just above the level of the water are still a-light he has resorted
to the expedient of thoroughly saturating the upper layers of the
cotton, in order that the combustion may be stifled between the moisture
descending from above and that ascending from below. This scheme has
brought the pumps once more into requisition. At present the crew are
adequate to the task of working them, but I and some of our fellow
passengers are ready to offer our assistance whenever it shall be
necessary.
With no immediate demand upon our labour, we are thrown upon our own
resources for passing our time. Letourneur, Andre and myself, have
frequent conversations; I also devote an hour or two to my diary.
Falsten holds little communication with any of us, but remains absorbed
in his calculations, and amuses himself by tracing mechanical diagrams
with ground-plan, section, elevation, all complete. It would be a happy
inspiration if he could invent some mighty engine that could set us all
afloat again. Mr. and Mrs. Kear, too, hold themselves aloof from
their fellow passengers, and we are not sorry to be relieved from the
necessity of listening to their incessant grumbling; unfortunately,
however, they carry off Miss Herbey with them, so that we enjoy little
or nothing of the young lady’s society. As for Silas Huntly, he has
become a complete nonentity; he exists, it is true, but merely, it would
seem, to vegetate.
Hobart, the steward, an obsequious, sly sort of fellow, goes through his
routine of duties just as though the vessel were pursuing her ordinary
course; and, as usual, is continually falling out with Jynxstrop, the
cook, an impudent, ill-favoured negro, who interferes with the other
sailors in a manner which, I think, ought not to be allowed.
Since it appears likely that we shall have abundance of time on our
hands, I have proposed to M. Letourneur and his son that we shall
together explore the reef on which we are stranded. It is not very
probable that we shall be able to discover much about the origin of this
strange accumulation of rock, yet the attempt will at least occupy us
for some hours, and will relieve us from the monotony of our confinement
on board. Besides, as the reef is not marked in any of the maps, I could
not but believe that it would be rendering a service to hydrography if
we were to take an accurate plan of the rocks, of which Curtis could
afterwards verify the true position by a second observation made with a
closer precision than the one he has already taken.
M. Letourneur agrees to my proposal, Curtis has promised to let us have
the boat and some sounding-lines, and to allow one of the sailors to
accompany us; so to-morrow morning, we hope to make our little voyage of
investigation.