Free The Survivors of the Chancellor by Jules Verne Page A

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 re-
main upon the reef; but he merely replied, that it must de-
pend upon circumstances, and that he hoped the weather
would continue favorable. 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 mois-
ture descending from above and that ascending from below.
This scheme has brought the pumps once more into requisi-
tion. At present the crew are adequate to the task of work-
ing 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 labor, we are
thrown upon our own resources for passing our time. M.
Letourneur, Andre, and myself, have frequent conversa-
tions; I also devote an hour or two to my diary. Falsten
holds little communication with any of us, but remains ab-
sorbed 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; un-
fortunately, 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 nonen-
tity; 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 con-
tinually falling out with Jynxstrop, the cook, an impudent,
ill-favored 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 accumula-
tion of rocks, 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 afterward
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.
CHAPTER XVIII
WE EXPLORE THE REEF
    OCTOBER 31 to November 5. — Our first proceeding on
the morning of the 31st was to make the proposed tour of
the reef, which is about a quarter of a mile long. With
the aid of our sounding-lines we found that the water was
deep, right up to the very rocks, and that no shelving shores
prevented us coasting along them. There was not a shadow
of doubt as to the rock being of purely volcanic origin, up-
heaved by some mighty subterranean convulsion. It is
formed of blocks of basalt, arranged in perfect order, of
which the regular prisms give the whole mass the effect