The Holly chieftain., 1899-07-28

then. as closely as can figure II. Just
about six miles TO where took that
first cast. Well. you know how much
water she's drawing. don't your"
Fifteen feet?"
Sixteen and half aft; and the lead
struck rock at an even three fathom,
first heavei saw the line jerk as the
leather strips went under. aud every
hair of my head felt az though II were
standing on end. 1t scared me 80 that
dropped the whole coil from my arm
luckily-and had mighty hollow
feeling in the pit of my stomach. Dur
ing the next 90 seconds did more
thinking than ever did in an hour Of
my life. I knew you were watching
me. and was afraid others might be.
too. By every law Of prudence and
seamanship I should have sigpaled
you: Stop heri Hard asterni'-but
II did. knew we'd have the deck full
Of people In few seconds. Diax and
Moreno would have been up in two
jumps, and what we knew about the
reef everyone would know. Sebastiano
would have sufficient data to chase
you down there the first time you
started. But remembered that Dam.
pier and the other old navigators who
found the place gave an average depth
Of four fathoms. The gallecn that
struck in avoiding Dampier's ships wa.
undoubtedly loaded down to her chan.
mel plates. and probably hit an iso-
lated spot. So there seemed to me an
even chance Of steaming across the
ledge in safety and without giving the
snap away. On the other hand. If we
struck, there would be an end of my
business prospects for q good many
years to come. 1t was tighter spot
than ever care to be in again, but
inside of two minutes decided to risk
it. AT the second cast l got quarter
less four Five minutes after, struck
bottom at half three;' then deer
four;' and at the last heave the calico
was just above the water when she
touched"
But, how the devil! I'll swear /
saw you pulling up the whole length
Of line each time"
well, rather! You didn't suppose
/ was fool enough to give away what
l was getting, did you? When u man's
been chucking lead for Is odd years
it don't take more'n fraction Of o
second to tell when he strikes bottom
No. let the slack fall when the lead
was under me, and we had way enough
to carry it well astern. II anyone had
been watching closely, Of course. !
couldn't have done it; but, as 1t was
1t worked to charm, and don't be
lieve another soul on board suspects
there's bit of rock within 1000 feet
Of the surface. Now, / was heav-
ing upwards OF 20 minutes from first
to last. At half speed that would be
about two miles, wouldn't IL? Well
this little star shows just where
struck 1t, and the other two would be
mile apart: SO that we have the reef
stretching from nor'-norwes' to sou'-
sou'eas'. Then, from the CLASSY look
of the water, I'm positive that it takes
curve to the sou'wes' for good four
miles further. The actual position OF
that three-fathom sounding is twelve
thirty-three moth by hundred and for
ty-four, twenty-five eas'-a good eight
knots cas- OF the Findlay and Imray
approximates. And the true bearing
from Point Orote, Harry, is the exact
opposite Of our present course; in 9TH
er words. SOU by wes'. quarter wes',
or exactly IA degrees wes' of scu'. The
magnetic variation this year is one de-
gree and 80 minutes cas-; SO in shap-
l. Ia - 1
be is degrees 80 minutes to the west
ard of SOU. Az for leeway, running
down. the no'theas' trades1l be with
in a few points of dead astern, SO you
won't have to make much allowance;
and, once at the reef, it'll be easy
enough beating back, because you can
see the island 20 miles away at least.
When we get abreast of Cocos you ca n
pull up your log. which will give you
the exact number Of miles on this
course to fraction; from Cocos to
Orote the chart distances are near
enough. because you've got land benr-
ings."
"Then, II It should be impossible to
get at old Fray Ignacio's docume Mt,
we can practically do without it?"
'"You can certainly find the reef in
anything like fair weather. but you
won't want to travel any further un-
der water looking for the wreck than
you are obliged to. wouldn't, any,
how"
fro Be coNrrNusp.I
ChivaIry of the "slums."
A touching story is told of an Edin-