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Page 56
"A good voyage--a speedy return."
We can not explain Erik's feelings.
This attention from an amiable and distinguished _savant_ brought tears
to his eyes. In leaving this hospitable shore where he had remained
three days, it seemed to him as if he was leaving his own country. He
placed Mr. Durrien's card in his memorandum book, and said to himself
that this adieu from an old man could not fail to bring him good luck.
It was now the 20th of February. The weather was fine. The sun had sunk
below the horizon, leaving a sky as cloudless as that of summer.
Erik had the watch during the first quarter, and he walked the
quarter-deck with a light step. It seemed to him that, with the
departure of Tudor Brown, the evil genius of the expedition had
disappeared.
"Provided that he does not intend to rejoin us at Malta or Suez," he
said to himself.
It was possible--indeed, even probable--if Tudor Brown wished to spare
himself the long voyage which the "Alaska" would make before reaching
Egypt. While the vessel was going around the coasts of France and Spain,
he could, if it so pleased him, stay for a week in Paris, or at any
other place, and then take the mail packet either to Alexandria or Suez,
and rejoin the "Alaska" at either of those places; or he could even
defer doing so until they reached Singapore or Yokohama.
But this was only a possibility. The fact was that he was no longer on
board, and that he could not cast a damper upon the spirits of the
company.
Their dinner, also, which they took at six o'clock, as usual, was the
gayest which they had yet sat down to. At dessert they drank to the
success of the expedition, and every one, in his heart, associated it,
more or less, with the absence of Tudor Brown. Then they went on deck
and smoked their cigars.
It was a dark night, but in the distance toward the north they could see
the light of Cape Saint Matthew. They soon signaled, also, the little
light on the shore at Bec-du-Raze, which proved that they were in their
right course. A good breeze from the north-east accelerated the speed of
the vessel, which rolled very little, although the sea was quite rough.
As the dinner-party reached the deck, one of the sailors approached the
captain, and said: "Six knots and a quarter."
"In that case we shall not want any more coal until we arrive at
Behring's Straits," answered the captain. After saying these words, he
left the doctor and went down to his room. There he selected a large
chart, which he spread out before him under a brilliant light, which was
suspended from the ceiling. It was a map of the British Admiralty, and
indicated all the details of the course which the "Alaska" intended to
take. The shores, the islands, the sand-banks, the light-houses,
revolving lights, and the most minute details were all clearly marked
out. With such a chart and a compass it seemed as if even a child might
be able to guide the largest ship through these perilous passes; and
yet, a distinguished officer of the French Navy, Lieutenant Mage, who
had explored the Niger, had been lost in these waters, with all his
companions, and his vessel, the "Magician."
It had happened that Captain Marsilas had never before navigated in
these waters. In fact, it was only the necessity of stopping at Brest
which had brought him here now, otherwise he would have passed a long
distance from shore. Therefore he was careful to study his chart
attentively, in order to keep his proper course. It seemed a very easy
matter, keeping on his left the Pointe-du-Van, the Bec-du-Raze, and the
Island of Sein, the legendary abode of the nine Druidesses, and which
was nearly always veiled by the spray of the roaring waters; he had only
to run straight to the west and to the south to reach the open sea. The
light on the island indicated clearly his position, and according to the
chart, the island ended in rocky heights, bordered by the open sea,
whose depth reached one hundred meters. The light on the island was a
useful guide on a dark night, and he resolved to keep closer to it than
he would have done in broad daylight. He therefore ascended to the deck,
and told Erik to sail twenty-five degrees toward the southwest.
This order appeared to surprise the young lieutenant.
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