The Man Who Laughs. Виктор Мари Гюго

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СКАЧАТЬ Gottingen university gown, did not relax his haughty and rigid attitude. He observed the waters as a critic of waves and of men. He studied the billows, but almost as if he was about to demand his turn to speak amidst their turmoil, and teach them something. There was in him both pedagogue and soothsayer. He seemed an oracle of the deep.

      He continued his soliloquy, which was perhaps intended to be heard.

      "We might strive if we had a wheel instead of a helm. With a speed of twelve miles an hour, a force of twenty pounds exerted on the wheel produces three hundred thousand pounds' effect on the course. And more too. For in some cases, with a double block and runner, they can get two more revolutions."

      The skipper bowed a second time, and said, "My lord!"

      The old man's eye rested on him; he had turned his head without moving his body.

      "Call me Doctor."

      "Master Doctor, I am the skipper."

      "Just so," said the doctor.

      The doctor, as henceforward we shall call him, appeared willing to converse.

      "Skipper, have you an English sextant?"

      "No."

      "Without an English sextant you cannot take an altitude at all."

      "The Basques," replied the captain, "took altitudes before there were any English."

      "Be careful you are not taken aback."

      "I keep her away when necessary."

      "Have you tried how many knots she is running?"

      "Yes."

      "When?"

      "Just now."

      "How?"

      "By the log."

      "Did you take the trouble to look at the triangle?"

      "Yes."

      "Did the sand run through the glass in exactly thirty seconds?"

      "Yes."

      "Are you sure that the sand has not worn the hole between the globes?"

      "Yes."

      "Have you proved the sand-glass by the oscillations of a bullet?"

      "Suspended by a rope yarn drawn out from the top of a coil of soaked hemp? Undoubtedly."

      "Have you waxed the yarn lest it should stretch?"

      "Yes."

      "Have you tested the log?"

      "I tested the sand-glass by the bullet, and checked the log by a round shot."

      "Of what size was the shot?"

      "One foot in diameter."

      "Heavy enough?"

      "It is an old round shot of our war hooker, La Casse de Par-Grand."

      "Which was in the Armada?"

      "Yes."

      "And which carried six hundred soldiers, fifty sailors, and twenty-five guns?"

      "Shipwreck knows it."

      "How did you compute the resistance of the water to the shot?"

      "By means of a German scale."

      "Have you taken into account the resistance of the rope supporting the shot to the waves?"

      "Yes."

      "What was the result?"

      "The resistance of the water was 170 pounds."

      "That's to say she is running four French leagues an hour."

      "And three Dutch leagues."

      "But that is the difference merely of the vessel's way and the rate at which the sea is running?"

      "Undoubtedly."

      "Whither are you steering?"

      "For a creek I know, between Loyola and St. Sebastian."

      "Make the latitude of the harbour's mouth as soon as possible."

      "Yes, as near as I can."

      "Beware of gusts and currents. The first cause the second."

      

      "Traidores."[4]

      "No abuse. The sea understands. Insult nothing. Rest satisfied with watching."

      "I have watched, and I do watch. Just now the tide is running against the wind; by-and-by, when it turns, we shall be all right."

      "Have you a chart?"

      "No; not for this channel."

      "Then you sail by rule of thumb?"

      "Not at all. I have a compass."

      "The compass is one eye, the chart the other."

      "A man with one eye can see."

      "How do you compute the difference between the true and apparent course?"

      "I've got my standard compass, and I make a guess."

      "To guess is all very well. To know for certain is better."

      "Christopher guessed."

      "When there is a fog and the needle revolves treacherously, you can never tell on which side you should look out for squalls, and the end of it is that you know neither the true nor apparent day's work. An ass with his chart is better off than a wizard with his oracle."

      "There is no fog in the breeze yet, and I see no cause for alarm."

      "Ships are like flies in the spider's web of the sea."

      "Just now both winds and waves are tolerably favourable."

      "Black specks quivering on the billows—such are men on the ocean."

      "I dare say there will be nothing wrong to-night."

      "You may get into such a mess that you will find it hard to get out of it."

      "All goes well at present."

      The doctor's eyes were fixed on the north-east. The skipper continued—

      "Let СКАЧАТЬ