Chapter 8 chapter eight

The waves grew stronger during the night, and by dawn the coral reefs surrounding the islet were whiter with the high-flying spray, especially on the windward side, while the swells were spaced by a constant, majestic roar. resounded through the sky.Jack was aware of this before he even opened his eyes, and he was quite sure that the soft wind had also picked up, and that the direction of the wind had probably shifted counterclockwise by a full compass point.He quietly left their perch under the palm tree, leaving Stephen to sleep curled up while he sat down on the white beach, yawning and stretching, his observations confirming his estimate of the soft wind .

The scenery before him was extremely beautiful.The sun had not yet risen too high to make the coral sands scorching and dazzling, but high enough to let the pale green of the lagoon take on all its splendor, to bring out the white of the waves, the blue of the ocean behind them and the Various pure colors of the sky.The colors shift imperceptibly with the orientation, from violet at the western end, to some utterly fairy-like hue where the sun rises.These sights he had noticed, along with the vibrant fresh air of the morning, cheered up a part of his mind while the rest of his mind tried to estimate, during the time they were on Pasch, the course of Pasch, Attempts to estimate where they are currently located relative to the likely return path of the Surprise.

He had, of course, tried to do this before, and had done it many times; but at that time his thoughts were still too turbulent to draw any convincing conclusions.He just reassured Stephen that all was well--very well--everything was normal--and went to sleep, a deep sleep, waves of lines rising and falling in his mind. With so much going on yesterday, he didn't keep an eye on Paschy's speed and direction as he should have done, but he did remember that it kept the wind between stern and beam for two to two hours except for the last leg. three compass points, and as for the speed of the ship, he believed it could never exceed four knots at any one time. "The ship is of unusual ingenuity in design," he thought, "but she must be fragile, and better suited to windward sailing than tailwind sailing. If she holds against the wind at night, when the sea grows stronger, I'd rather It wouldn't surprise me--it wouldn't surprise me if she's still standing upwind, only a few hours' sail to leeward of us."

Let's say four miles an hour, and the heading, if you take into account the yaw and the last north-facing stretch, is probably within half a compass point of west-northwest.He drew two lines in the sand, one representing the course Pash had followed since he rescued them aboard until he sent them to the island, and the other representing the course the Surprise had followed westward before she retracted her sails and turned around.It should now be sailing west again, mustering at night in the dark east of where they had landed, and should be somewhere near the meridian now.He drew a vertical line from the islet to the second line, and his face became very grim; he checked his line again, and his face became still more grim.Even with all its boats spread out to the fullest extent, it would have been almost impossible to see this low island far to the north, which is but a speck of land in the middle of a vast sea, and which appears on any nautical chart. There is no sign, so no one would expect it to exist.

"Very unlikely," he said, but remembering that Pache's sheet had been slack during the church service, almost so loose that it fluttered, he suddenly had a glimmer of hope.For in this way his vertical line was shortened, not too much, a mile and a half to two miles for each hour of dancing and harangues, but the cold hand that clenched his heart loosened a little. The question was, how long would Movitt keep searching, keep all the boats spread out, keep the frigates moving slowly, perhaps in a zigzag course, in order to search for more water?Everyone knows that Jack is a good swimmer, but no one can float in the water indefinitely.Considering the main task of the frigate, considering that it is to track the "Norfolk", how long can Movit continue to search carefully in the seemingly empty sea?Hogg had mentioned unmarked islands, but even so...

"Good morning, Jack," said Stephen. "Isn't it a beautiful day? How I wish you slept as deeply as I did. I slept so deeply last night, and the comforting darkness is the most restorative. Have you seen the warship?" "No, not yet. Tell me, Stephen, how long do you think their service lasted yesterday? Their church, you might say." "Oh, not long at all, I'm sure." "But, Stephen, the sermon did last a few hours." "It's boredom and fear that make it seem so long." "Nonsense," Jack said. "Well, brother," said Stephen, "you look angry—you kicked off the drawing in the sand. Are you distressed because you didn't see the boat? It'll be there soon, I'm sure. You Last night's explanation completely convinced me. You couldn't have been more reasonable and to the point." He scratched himself for a moment. "I see you haven't swam. Swimming may cheer you up and correct you. Emotions?"

"Maybe," said Jack, smiling, "but I've swam enough to stop swimming for a while. I'm still soaked like a pickled pig's head." "If that's the case," said Stephen, "you wouldn't think me rude if I suggested that you climb up the coconut tree and get us some breakfast. Climb less than six or seven feet and keep falling off, bruised almost every time, so painful, and maybe dangerous. There are some skills in sailors that I'm still a bit lacking in, and you're a solid sailor .” He was quite a sailor indeed, but Jack Aubrey had never climbed a coconut tree since his midshipman days in the West Indies; , but he weighed more than sixteen stone, so he looked up at the towering coconut trees thoughtfully.The thickest trunk was not more than eighteen inches in diameter, yet it was a good hundred feet high; and no tree is straight even in calm, and now it blows softly with the slender topomast. Wind, and they sway farther and farther in an extremely graceful and elastic gesture.It wasn't the swaying of the tree that got Jack brooding—the violent, irregular motions Jack was quite familiar with—but what Jack considered, rather, was what sixteen stone would do at the top of such an arch, and , The movement of the arch is not restricted by any support cables, front stays, and backstays.Jack was also thinking about what the enormous force would do to the lower part of the trunk and the roots, which were only shallowly lodged in the coral sand and some plant debris.

He walked back and forth in the sparse coconut grove, hoping to find the strongest coconut tree. "At least," he said, looking up at the lush green foliage high above, "if the tree did break, the stretched canopy would soften the impact of the fall." And on his long and arduous upward journey, some Several times the coconut tree did appear to be falling, to succumb to the enormous and growing mechanical advantage of his body.Sometimes, when the wind blows the tree to the most curved point, the tree and the ground form a forty-five-degree angle, but the tree does not break. After each bend to the lowest point, the coconut tree bounces up again, flying far away quickly. Over the vertical position, so Jack had to hug the trunk tightly.He finally climbed into the middle of the huge leaves of the coconut tree and rode firmly astride, slightly relieved.Together with the top of the coconut tree, he swung back and forth on a now-familiar trajectory.This reverse swing was, in a way, rather intoxicating, even for a man as desperately anxious and horny as he was.And when the palm tree bounced back to its vertical state for the tenth time, in the leeward direction in the distance, he saw Pash stopped against the wind. "Stephen," he said.

"Hey?" "I see Pash, leeward, maybe twelve miles away, parked against the wind." "Really? Jack, listen, are you eating coconut nuts and drinking coconut juice on top, and I'm starving to death down there, shame on you." The coconut tree bowed in a gust of wind, then rose again, returning more and more slowly to its original height, and Jack, now climbing among the taller foliage, let out a loud roar: "There it is, there it is!" There it is!" For, at sea level, farther from the catamaran, to the south, he had a clear view of the Surprise's topsail and low topsail .She was tacking to starboard, heading for Passy, ​​the wind blowing almost perpendicular to her main beam.He explained this to Stephen in some detail, while the coconut trees kept shaking. "Is there anything you have to do at this hour?" Stephen asked, shouting at a moderate volume over the roar of the waves, the wind, and the screeching of the coconut trees.

"Well, no need," said Jack in an equally loud voice. "It's got to be seven or eight leagues away. It'll be a while till he can see the signal before I can do anything." "Then I beg you to stop bouncing around in that risky, unscrupulous way. Now throw a few coconuts down and let's get to breakfast, for God's sake." "Stand away from the trees, then," said Jack, before sending down a deadly rain of coconuts.After a few minutes, he stepped on the ground again, "No cheers, no jumps?" "Why should I be jumping for joy?"

"Of course it's because of our warships." "But you keep saying it'll come. Why don't you pick some green coconuts? They're hard as cannonballs, old hairy coconuts. Can't you see? Good or bad Divide? May God and Mary bless you. But do you want me to prescribe one for you so that you can drink it?" "Please. I'm almost starving, climbing trees, and yelling—Stephen, you've got a dagger!" "It wasn't a dagger, it was my pocket lancet. I took it to undo a nasty knot in my shoelaces - those expensive shoes you made me kick off - but I forgot about it afterwards I didn't think of it until it stabbed me last night when I lay down to sleep. I'm sorry if I had thought earlier we could have given it to the broad-shouldered girl for her kindness A small thank you. I have always thought of her with great love." Jack agreed wholeheartedly, and said enthusiastically that it should be, and added: "But anyway, it is really handy to use it to open old coconuts. I am going to set up some kind of signal, and it will be very useful when drilling holes. " The signal took him more than a whole morning.It was a tripod made of the ribs of the compound leaves of the coconut tree.The silk drawn from the leaves passes through the holes pierced by the lancet and binds the leaf ribs together.The whole thing was pinned to the very top of the tallest coconut tree, with Captain Aubrey's shirt floating on it.It stood firm on its elastic foundation, and amidst all the tumbling arcs it stood out strangely, sharply, conspicuously, angularly.But when he was done, finally climbing down from the tall tree trunk after countless climbs, his mood was low.In fact, he had little or no confidence in his tripod or his shirt.All morning, in the breaks between this delicate labor, he observed that the weather was beginning to turn bad from the east, that the wind was increasing, that it continued to veer counterclockwise, that the great sea swell was growing stronger; and what was more important, He had been watching the movements of the frigate and Pasch with nervous excitement.He was surprised to find that Pache had withdrawn the deckhouse and unfurled the goose-wing sail in the tailwind.The square sail of matting was stretched between the masts, he didn't know it could be so equipped, and the wind pushed Pasch, so equipped, swiftly westward. The Surprise had sailed to leeward to intercept it, and the two ships were traveling fast and far on converging courses, both well out of the lee of the island.They were so far away from here that under the cloudy sky he could only see now and then the frigate's sails rising above the horizon, while the Pasch disappeared entirely.He couldn't tell whether the frigate had communicated with Paxi. He only knew that the wind and waves had intensified. Even if the "Surprise" got any information from Paxi due to some very lucky chance, the information would be fragmented. , indeterminate, and totally unreliable.With such a wind, such a head swell, and such a current, a sailboat with square sails could spend a whole week slanting toward the islands without making any progress in the easterly direction, so Passey aboard the crew It is impossible for Movit to make up his mind to take such a time-wasting action with their vague advice, even if they give advice.You know, this crew is made up of a group of women who can only speak one language, and most of them are hostile.Duty would require Movit to continue on to Malgathas. "Don't be so sullen, brother," said Stephen. "Sit comfortably on the ground and listen to the great roar of the waves. It's like thunder." "Yeah, sure," Jack said. "There must have been a strong wind blowing somewhere to cause such a big swell. But I tell you, Stephen, I'm afraid the weather is going to get bad here too. If not, maybe we should get ready and get ready for the island. We'll be up there for a good while—probably as long as we can get to the reef, we'll have a good catch, and some good snails." Stephen demurred that the warship was nearby.Jack replied that it had gone a long way to leeward.Stephen said that in that case it would have to try to sail into the windward, and Jack was again going to explain that even the most upwind sailing boats had to retract the sails, or lower the sails altogether, when the wind increased. So the degree of its yaw must increase, but he realized that his explanation would do no good.Stubborn ignorance is no guide; and while he can certainly make Stephen anxious and unhappy, it doesn't really get them anywhere.He therefore listened quietly to his friend's assurance that "Mowett will of course find some way of overcoming these difficulties--the word impossible is, in my opinion, irrelevant to the Navy--nothing surpasses the zeal of a sailor. —if there were any delays, I could still complete the study of the flora and fauna of the island—but only a short delay would suffice, for the total number of land creatures here is pitifully small.” "But," continued Stephen, after these words of reassurance, "I have been watching the corals, and am amazed, bewildered, and dismayed to think of the innumerable, infinite number of tiny Lime, through long generations of sifting, to obtain such a huge amount of lime that actually formed this island, formed this coral reef, not to mention other existing islands. The basis of all this What is it? It's all based on the skeletons of other polyps, the calcareous exoskeletons of other polyps in unimaginably large numbers, and that's the answer. Because I can assure you, Jack, that everything here, Except for these insignificant occasional plants"—he waved his hand toward the coconut grove—"it's all coral, living or dead, coral sand or hard coral deposits. There is no stony foundation here at all. In this deep Deep in rough seas, how did it start? The waves are so powerful, and the microscopic animals are so fragile. How did these islands form? I can't explain it at all, I can't even come up with a hypothesis." "There's no rocks down there, you mean?" "Nothing, bro. Coral, coral, nothing but coral." He paused and shook his head, lost in thought.Jack looked across the green lagoon to the flying wall of white spray on the other side of the reef, thinking he must now try to find something to use as bait, attach Manu's sling to the palm pole, and carry it with him. It waded out to fish.He was going on trying to figure out how to make a fire when Stephen said, "There's something on the beach to your right, about the size of a medium turtle, but more lumpy, round, and splashing in the water. Since it's as I said That thing isn't a boulder the way you want it to be. It's not a rock. I'm more or less convinced it's a hunk of ambergris, washed up by the sea." "You haven't looked carefully?" "No. When I see a curio, treasure, etc., I immediately think of that hapless brass box, the most unpopular box from the 'Daney', and now it It's on the Ronky. When I think of the box, I become totally apocalyptic. I believe that mice, cockroaches, bookworms, molds of all kinds, are devouring the contents of the box, and are Ruined us—they're eating up that million pound note with tropical greed. The thought of it gives me a numb leg, and I've been sitting here ever since." "There's a one in a thousand chance we'll need that brass box, and ambergris, unless it's a meal," thought Jack. "And if the weather keeps getting bad as it is now--if it gets windy and the Surprise goes a long way to leeward, the chances are one in ten thousand, or less, less A lot." Then he pulled Stephen up and said aloud, "Let's go and see. If it's really ambergris, we'll be rich. Just go to the nearest dealer and exchange it for the same weight in gold." Ah, ha, ha, ha!" It turned out not to be ambergris, but a crystalline limestone, mottled and partly transparent, which puzzled Maturin rather. "How is that possible?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the sea. "There are neither glaciers nor icebergs... How did such a thing come about? Here comes the boat. I see," he cried, " This stone was brought entangled in the roots of a tree, a great tree that, after a distant flood or tornado carried it away, drifted God knows how many thousands of miles, washed up here, and rotted here again and leave his immortal burden behind. Come, Jack, turn it over for me—see," cried he with a light in his face as the stone was turned, "in these curved grooves there is Where are the traces of tree roots? What a great discovery!" "What do you mean when you say boat?" "Well, of course it's our boat. The big one, the yacht, is here to get us, just like you keep saying. Lord, Jack," he added, with a completely different expression, "by God In the name of them, how can I face them?" The yacht Surprise, following the signal from its captain from the coconut tree, sped through the perilous gap in the reef, across the lagoon, and onto the beach with its nose up, while Maturin remained seated on the rock. "Oh, sir," cried Horney, jumping down from the bow, and nearly clutching his captain in his arms, "how glad I am to see you! We saw the signal an hour or two ago, but He hardly dared to hope that it was you. How are you, Your Excellency? And the doctor?"—he raised his head in great anxiety and suspicion at these last words. "He's fine, thank you, Honey, and I'm fine, too," Jack said, shaking hands with him, and then he turned to the sailors in the skiff, who were looking around on the thwart deck, nodding and waving, grinning their teeth Smiling, violates all proper naval code.Jack called to them, "Have you had a safe voyage, shipmates? I welcome you with all my heart. It's been a long journey, isn't it?" "Nearly eight hours, sir," said Bunton, laughing, as if making a really good quip. "Then pull it forward a few feet and come ashore. Probably we won't be in the water until the tide turns, and you'll have time for a drink, a coconut or two. Mr. Karami, you'll be at the other side of the island." Find the doctor on the way, beside a boulder on the low waterline. Go and tell him—is there anything to eat and drink in the boat?" "Kirik gave some milk wine, and sea lion meat, my lord," said Bunton. "We have our own rations." "Then tell him there's milk wine and sea lions. Tell him we're going to have some supper, and ask him if he'd like to join us. But anyway, if he's ready, we'll be leaving soon, for I'm afraid God It's going to be very windy. Now, Mr. Horney, tell me what happened." One of the sailors on duty on the aft deck was scrubbing the deck just before daybreak when he saw the aft windows open and realized they were gone.He reported Movitt, and Movitt immediately called out: "It's because of the doctor." Then he turned the bow.All the officers worked out a course together which was supposed to bring the ship back to its original point, the last place it was known to have been when the captain was still on board.They sailed this course for several hours, saw driftwood four times, and returned to the spot they had identified.To determine the spot they examined with excellent observation, but their hearts were sunk in their boots, and their eyes were dimmed with long and vain staring.Then they anchored the boat overnight against the wind, very carefully leading the boat a little to counteract the effect of the current.All the officers were either on deck or at the top of the mast, and the atmosphere was like that of an undertaker's barge in which there was no sound.Before sunrise, they spread out all the boats as the day before, and as soon as it was daylight, they began to search westward.They cheered up almost at once, for they saw two more trunks, broken but not soaked, and high up, and their hope was restored.A short time later, the northernmost boat, one of the dhows . . . "The clipper blue dhow. At seven o'clock in the morning watch. I beg your pardon, sir," said Bunton. "...there was a signal that they had found something very probable, so they turned the ship around, but it turned out to be an empty lute bucket, but it was a U.S. Navy beef bucket, still fresh." "Beef bucket, Eh?" Jack said with great contentment, "Go on, Mr. Horney." Then at the time of the changing of the guard, Hogg, the chief gunner of the whaling ship, came to the stern. He said that there was an island in the distance to the north, and asked him how he knew it. Green reflections.Other South Sea whalers backed his claim that the islanders used the signs to navigate.Ask him how far it is, and he says it depends on the size of the island: for a small island, it is about twenty miles away, and for a large island, it is much farther.There are many islands that are not marked on the nautical chart. If the drowning man finds a piece of driftwood, is it possible for them to float there?What is the true direction of the ocean currents?Could the current carry them that far north?These are the questions that torment those on the back deck.Is it right to deviate from the current course?They decided that, because of the distance, it would be unwise to change course unless the existence of the island was certain, but they ordered the clipper blue dhow to sail north-northeast for an hour as soon as possible, while the warship and other small boats The boat continued its original search.Their reasoning is that as long as the islands do exist, there will be currents towards the islands, which will attract driftwood from great distances.Time passed slowly, but at last they saw the dhow coming back.For now that the Surprise was moving west, and more clouds were rising, the light was bad, and the signal from the dhow was hard to see, except for the side of the flag.When the skiff was within hearing distance of the shouting, they realized that they saw not only a low island, but a brig with two masts far to the west-northwest.By this time the wind was beginning to pick up, and turned to the east, and even to the northeast, and the waves were increasing, and bad weather was sure to come.Hogg and other whalers said they knew there would be very strong winds in these waters following such a swell.They felt that this might be the last chance, so they called all the boats back, changed course again, "feeling very uncomfortable in the heart", they went full speed again, and before long, standing on the topmast beam The lookouts all saw the sailboat. "I saw it, my lord," cried Karami. "I used Boyle's binoculars, ha, ha, ha!" Hogg climbed up the mast and announced that the sailboat was a native wooden boat, a catamaran, very much like the Paxi of the Tuamo, but different in some details.While he was still thinking about the wooden boat, he saw the island further to the east. Movitt immediately allocated sailors and food reserves to the yacht, and asked Honey to drive the yacht towards the island as soon as possible.He himself was going to see if Pasch had rescued them, or to see if the people on board would provide any information—Hogg could understand the local language—and then stop the boat against the wind and wait for the yacht to return.He also made an agreement with them that in case of bad weather, they would meet at Malgasus. The yacht was a two-masted schooner, a well-equipped skiff that could run against the wind.But it was clear from the first that tacking would not succeed, and they took up the oars, so that the boat was entirely invisible from the islet in such rough seas.After a few hours of paddling everyone was exhausted, for the waves were now a head swell, or at least a head swell.But at this moment, Honey, who was standing and searching with a telescope, saw Jack's shirt floating on the coconut grove. Since then, they paddled vigorously like heroes—Davis and Stephen's servant Pa Ding Coleman broke all his oars. "Remind me, deduct compensation from their pay, Mr. Horney," Jack said.When the laughter had subsided (for it was perhaps his best quip since Gibraltar), he added, "At least as soon as we're out of the lagoon the sore arms can rest. I see the warship downwind, With this soft wind, we don't need to touch the oars, and we can meet it before sunset. Bunton, run to the doctor." - this is because Stephen has asked Karami to bring back a message, which means Say he's not hungry--he's got some last research--he'll be right back--"Tell him we're leaving, and get him on to the stern block, while we're going to put the mast on the mast He raised his voice and said, "It's best not to greet him or ask him how he is. He's been a little unwell, soaked in the water for too long, and drank salt water." Actually Jack didn't have to say that, at least not to the sailors.They were so considerate that they would not have noticed Stephen's misfortune, nor made him feel the great trouble they had caused.In fact, as he awkwardly and shyly approached along the beach, their expressions might well have been read for a brutal indifference; an indifference that was at last tempered by their strange gentleness.With this curious gentleness they drew him into the boat, covered his knees with canvas, and threw someone's old blue cloth coat over his shoulders. As they sailed westward, the yacht was propelled by swells behind the ship and a growing wind.Stephen's mood improved a little, especially when Jack told what happened to them on the Passy.Jack couldn't have had a more attentive and appreciative audience. When they heard that he was nearly castrated, and that the doctor was terrified of his pigs being unruly while the sail-master's assistant stood behind them, they laughed. What a joy it was--after a while Stephen added a few more details, and he felt much more at ease.But no sooner had they seen the warship--no sooner had it approached, no sooner had men been seen running and waving hats on the deck under a clouded sunset sky--he fell back into silence. However, the heartfelt, unaffected, affectionate welcome, and the hidden friendliness, were enough to cope with even more eccentric temperaments than Stephen's.Rough as it may be at times, the navy has this kind of hidden friendliness that is unique to it.Regardless, Stephen's expertise was immediately in demand.The party that had been sent to board the Pasch were driven off the ship with the utmost ferocity.Martin and Hogg, the leaders, with presents and good words, were almost immediately overturned by the club, and the sailors who brought them back were wounded by the pikes amidst shrill and terrible roars, He was injured by a heavy wooden knife and stabbed by a bamboo fork.There were five people in the ward with back injuries far beyond the reach of the paramedics.These injuries were all sustained during a brief period of attempting to board the ship, while a hail of slingshot stones and darts caused five or six other minor injuries as Pasch left. "They don't care about guns," Movitt said from the cabin. "I don't believe they know what gunpowder is. Every time we fired beside their heads, and over them, they danced their pikes and jumped up and down. I could have broken a mast or two, But the waves are so big... Besides, we also know that you are not on the boat. As for the information, I am sure they will not give us any information." "You've done a good job, Movitt," Jack said. "If it were me, I would be afraid that they would attack the warship." "I clipped it," Stephen said in the injury room, operating in the last light of day and by the light of seventeen quartermaster candles. "I got it in the duckbill pliers. It was a shark's tooth, I'd guessed it was that kind of thing, it's come off the stick, and it's stuck amazingly deep in the gluteus major. Question Yes, what kind of shark's teeth?" "May I have a look?" Martin asked, his voice firm.He had thirty-six stitches in his scalp and a square foot of sticking plaster on his cut shoulder, but he was a man of strong will, and he was first and foremost a natural philosopher. "A shark without a doubt," he said, holding the shark's teeth close to the deck - since he was prone - most of the "surprise" people were disgraced from the back as they tried to escape. Hurt—"But I don't see what kind of shark it is. Anyway, I'm going to keep it in my snuffbox and look at it whenever I think of marriage. In fact, whenever I think of women, I look at it." It. Geez, every time I doff my hat to a woman in the future, I'll remember today. You know, Maturin, as soon as I get on that floating thing, that pasch, I bow, I do my hat off, I saluted the woman who stopped me, but she immediately knocked me over." "It's the other side of the world," said Stephen. "Now show me your calf, I'm afraid we'll have to cut it out. I was hoping to get it out, but the shin is in the way." "Maybe we can wait until tomorrow," said Martin, whose willpower has its limits. "A barbed spear-point cannot be delayed," said Stephen. "I don't want to see floating flesh, black gangrene, gangrene running up. Pratt, I see Mr. Martin would be willing to tie; otherwise his foot might twitch involuntarily should I touch the artery. ’” With quick, practiced fingers, he looped a leather-wrapped iron chain around Martin’s condyles and tied another behind his knees.Pratt ties them to ring-end bolts, effectively securing the leg and its owner.These were movements that Stephen had performed many times, and he was familiar with them, and he was equally familiar with patients' resistance to surgery and their transparent excuses. Surrounded by familiar machinery, smelling a mixture of candles, bilge, linen, lint, rum, laudanum, he felt very at home in this place.如果手术下刀很深，他会用鸦片酊让病人睡过去。等包扎完马丁的伤腿——马丁终于在他药水的作用下昏睡过去，现在已经安静了——他再次感到自己是军舰的一部分。 他站起身来，把手术外套扔在通常的角落，洗了手，走进大舱。杰克正在一个本子上写着，他抬头看了一眼，微笑着说：“你来了，斯蒂芬。”然后他继续写下去，他的笔忙碌地在纸上写着。 斯蒂芬在自己特定的椅子里坐下来，环视起这个华丽的房间。每一件东西都归置得很妥当，那些望远镜都在架子上，军刀挂在气压计旁边，大提琴和小提琴的盒子也放在原先的位置，特别富丽堂皇的镶金梳妆架兼乐谱架——戴安娜给丈夫的礼物——竖在原本的地方，从“达奈依”号上取来的倒霉的箱子，封条完整，藏在支腰梁的背后，这他也知道得很清楚。可还是有什么东西不对劲，马上他就发现所有的船尾窗全都装上了舷窗盖，谁都不可能从那儿跌下去了。 “不是，不是为了那个。”杰克发现了他的目光，说道。“那就会像马厩的门丢了之后，再把马关在马厩里，会是件非常愚蠢的事情。” “话虽这么说，恐十白有些马还是得控制起来。” “不，我只是觉得可能会起大风，我不想再碎几块窗玻璃了。” “是吗？我可是觉得海浪比以前小了。” “浪确实小了，可气压下降得很厉害……请你原谅我，斯蒂芬，我得马上写完这页纸。” 从船尾方向涌动着纯粹的长长的海浪，军舰升起又坠下，升起又坠下，没有一丝一毫的左右摇晃。杰克的笔继续吱吱作响。在稍远的地方，基里克正用刺耳的嗓音唱着歌，接着，烤奶酪的香味传到了大舱。 这曾经是他们特别喜欢的美味，不过大舱里已经没有奶酪了，不管是烤奶酪还是普通奶酪，都已经离他们几千英里远了。斯蒂芬对着前后摇啊晃啊摇啊晃啊的灯笼眨巴着眼睛，想知道是否可能有嗅觉幻觉这么一回事。嗅觉幻觉想来也是有的。毕竟错误是根本没有止境的嘛。但话又说回来，他想，基里克关于外快的看法，也是像海洋一般宽泛的：和掌帆长一样，他也一直不断地、勤勉地偷窃着。根据古老的习俗，只要掌帆长没被当场抓住，只要他没有罪恶地削弱军舰，他是可以卖掉自己的赃物而不被别人看低的，但舰长的管家就不可以这样了，基里克从来也没把任何东西拿到船下去。他的外快是留给他自己和朋友们的，而且有可能他留下了一块几乎不会变质的曼彻哥或者巴马干酪，留给自己私自享用。物质的、实在的、客观的奶酪肯定正在离他不远的地方烤着。斯蒂芬注意到自己在流着口水，但也注意到同时他却闭着眼睛。“真是一种奇怪的组合，真的。”他听见杰克在说肯定会刮大风，随后他很快睡着了。