The times., 1897-05-23

seen anyone tneFS DILUTE iteie e are ii
great many sunken rocks short way
out from the cliff, and al fisherTnen, on
that account, keep well away from the
shore. Fortunately they did not see Ire,
and. after Il short time, they went away =
I now passed an hour or so in this nest
agreeable manner, sitting upon Il. inossy
rock by her side and listening 10 her aluess
and crisp and original conversation. As
gaved upon her, already felt the swift
and insidious advances OF the tender pas
sion BY her naive remarks, alko knew
that she was far from being Indifferent
To me- Yet would not make love 10 her
Such advances might well be u place with
the powdered and simpefing maid OF he
matiuee, OF TIE laDgUishing and ARTIFICIAL
MSS OF the ballroom. With this pure and
childiike and beautiful creature, IL seemed
something like sacIilece, and ocuId rot
bring myself to take advantage OF The Pc
ctiliar position in which found myself
The time flew by as though it had the
wings of the wind, aad was amazed when
sne started up and said that the noon hour
had almost come; that the sun would in a
few minutes reach the meridian, and that
she now proposed to take the observation
of which she had spoken. She entered the
house and shortly afterward reappeared,
carrying her seXtant and a small writinS <
pad aud followed her To the mead of the
inlet or fissilre, which opening, as | before
mentioned, was the only outlook upon the
sea.
The sun was above and in front US, and
she took her stand facing IL ,and pointed
the telescope Of her seXtant at the sea hori-
zoa Immediately under IT, She made most
fascinating ships mate III petticoa5s as she
stood there in graceful, firmly poised atti-
tudc, with her mead thrown back and her
gentle features puckered into a scowl by
the intensity and concentration of ner puf-
pose.
when 1 call out " said she, 'fet ne know
the exact time by your watch. -
While waiting for her TO get the SUMS alti-
tude / took my watch out. aud, without
opening it, 1 wound it mechanically until
/ could wind it no further.
''Nowi' she cried out.
| opened my watch and found to my cha
grin, that it gave the time as exactly
four minutes past 8. 1t was very eN-
cellent watch, made expressly 10 my order
in Geneva, at fabulous price, and would
not vary five seconds in year. 1t was
running now. as / had Just wound it,,
but | saw at once that it must have run
down at four minutes past 8 that morn
ing. It also occurred To me that l had
probably neglected TO wind il, while l was
tossing about in the boat the night before
| iaughingly announced the time shown
by my watch and then explained TO her
how itmust have run down from nay forget
ting to windit the night before
ut is now exactly noon" said !, for
the sun has just passed the meridian. l
VIII therefore move the hands forward to
IL O'Clock"
you siall do nothing of the kind, -
cried the girl. Keep it running exactly
as il is, or you will have reason 10 regret
it"
Willing to oblige her even in such a
nonscnsical whini, followed her into the
house, and we took OUR seats at the
table, upon which was still spread the
large Mercator map of the world
You tell me, she commenced, 'that
your watch is very accurate one; that
il does not vary five seconds in the year "
Yes / interposed, but it has, unfor-
tuuateIy, run down"
I'VE shall see later whether it has or
not" said she, dryly. You also tell me
that you come from a place called New
York Naturally the time which you car
red was New York time. Can you tell rne
row upon what meridian of longitude the
New York time is based?"
Let me see, l ans wered; 1.-The stand
ard time in New York-and l was always
very particular to haveit exactly-is called
Eastern time, and l think, yes. aul posi-
tive, that it is the time OF the Z 18th me
ridian of West longitude"
VERY well" said she; ''whcn the sun
Ciossed the meridian at noon, Il few min
l,tes ago, you, you looked at your watch
and found that it was two hours and fifty
six minutes slow. Four minutes represent
e degree OF longitude. We are, there
fire at this moment, "A degrees east
of the 18TH meridian OF west longitude
which brings us to the 3lst meridian and
fAnong the islands of the Azores. Are -ou
not now satisfied that l am right, aud
tnat we are upon the island of Coryo?"
But my watch had run down. 1 OBJ
jected
''Eow do you know that?'' she an
swered very pertinently- You simply
suppose it. / hope that you will now sec
the folly of asserting that we are with
! in forty miles of New York. When have
proved by your own watch and by the sun,
that we are two thousand miles to the
east of it.''
l knew, OF course, that the idea of my
travelling that distance in a single night
was preposterous and absurd But she ac
colnpanied her remarks with such capt..
waiting glance, that, to please her, would
have conceded that we were in the Sea OF
Japan.
ITO get the exact latitude she con
tinued, ''it is always necessary to first
ascertain the correct longitude; that we
may allow properly for the declination OF
the sun Before this, have always had to
approximate it. Today, thanks to the &C.
curacy of your watch, 1 shall ascertain
our position, to the fraction of a minute -
The fair astronomer and mathemati-
clan now took the writing pad, and be-
gan to figure rapidly, explaining the mat
ter, as she went along.
'.The highest altitude OF the sun which
I could get was GO degrees 21 njn1tes
seconds This, of course, was the height
of helowerrim of th esun, and weinIsr add
half Of the sun s diameter, which my Nautical
Almanac gives upon this day as 15 min
utes 40 seconds Making 68 degrees 36
minutes 81 seconds. AS we are staining
upon cliff, twenty feet above the water,
and not at the waters edge, we must al
low and deduct for the extra dip OF the
horizon On that account. My almanac gives
for twenty feet dip OF the sea horizon
OF minutes "a seconds Which deducted
leaves 68 degrees 32 minutes 33 seconds
We must now deduct FOR refracton, minus
the suns parallax. AS figure 1t, it Is 36