The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1908-07-17
Con cnued from last week. }
CHAPTER XII.

for the protection Of the mair
deck-"an excellent notion" he
termed II, but he secuted the sugges
ton that she should undertake the
work herself.
You little know what hauling taut
heavy canvas MEANS" he said when
they met at lunch. 1T would tear the
skin off your hands. No, Miss Max
well; we can put our Chileans on to
that job. l have something better for
you to do. Can you mapT'
81 have copied heaps Of plans for
my father" she told him.
Excellent! At noon today I took
an observation, so I intend to devote
an hour to revising the chart. VIII
you help? Joey is in the scheme al
ready. Then the admiralty will grace
fully acknowledge the survey supplied
by Miss Elsie Maxwell, Captain Ar
thur Courtenay and Joey, otherwise
known as the pup"
His allusion to the dog by name re-
called "Jose the Winebag," but Elsie
thought she would retain that tiny
scrap Of detective information for the
present So she simply said:
"You will explain to me my part Of
the undertaking, Of courseT'
Certainly. You must first correct
the index error. Then you subtract
the dip and the refracton in altitude,
take the suns semidiameter from the
nautical almanac and add the parallax.
Do you follow meT'
Perfectly. 1t sounds the easiest
thing. But don't wish to hear the
remarks Of the admiralty when they
see the result"
II am interested In navigation to
the slight extent possible to a mere
yachtsman. May ! join your inter-
posed Christobal.
"Oh, yes!" said the captain offhand-
eddy.
Elsie repressed the smile on her lips.
Did the worthy doctor fear develop
ments If this harmless mapmaking
progressed in his absence? She i'm
agined, too, that Courtenay's acqui-
escence in Christobal's desire to be
with his innermost wish. She prompt
ly crushed that dangerous fancy. The
captain was only seeking for some ex-
cuse to take her away from the rough
work Of rigging the extra awnings.
How odd that the other thought should
have cropped up first!
"You still think the Kansas will win
clear of her difficultiesw she said
rather hurriedly. "After all, the ships
safety is essential to your survey"
Every hour strengthens my opin-
ion," was the confident reply. "Suarez
says that there is a reasonable chance
Of occasional brief spells Of fine wealth
er at this period of the year. At any
rate, the gale may not be absolutely
continuous, and Walker is assured that
he can patch up the engines for half
speed. Given q calm day-a day like
this, for instance-we can reach the
strait in few hours"
''And the IndiansT"
81 leave them out of my reckoning
What else can do?'
xiii 'em," said Tollemache.
Courtenay glanced sharply at his fell
low countryman. He disliked these
Elsie's presence.
1--WE have dynamite aboard" said
Tollemache. "Why not construct a
couple Of Internal machines which
could be fired by pulling a string and
let them drift toward the canoes when
the Indians are near enough?"
1T Is worth trying" was Courte-
nays brief comment, though he saw
later that Tollemache's suggestion was
very useful one.
Elsie's first task was to prepare a
large scale drawing of the southern
part Of Hanover island as set forth in
admirably chart No. 1887 sheet 2,
Patagonia), which is the only trust
worthy record available for shipmas-
tiers using the outer passage between
the gulf of Penas and the strait of Ma
gellan. 1t was simple matter to fill
In the few contours given. The neigh
boring small islands were shown In
reasonable detail. but the whole west
ern coast Of Hanover island itself con-
sisted Of a dotted line and solitary
peak, Stokes mountain, the height of
which could be estimated and its po-
sition triangulated from the sea. Even
Conception strait. on the north, and
the San Bias channel, on the south,
were marked in those significant dot
ted lines. The coast was practically
unknown to civilized man.
1t was borne in on the girl while she
worked that the chief marvel In her
present condition was the triumph of
science over nature in its most hostile
mood. The Kansas boosted all the
comforts and luxuries of well equip
ped hotel. Seated at the same table
as herself was a skillful sailor, using
logarithms, secants and cosecants, po-
lar distances and hour angles as If he
were In some university class room.
She stole glance at Courtenay. He
was so keenly engaged on the business
In hand, so bent on achieving accuracy
In his figutvs, that she chided herself
for her reverie. Then she wondered
II he ever gave thought to that prom
Used wife of his, who must soon suffer
the agony OF knowing that the Kansas
was overdue.