Chapter 7 Chapter Seven Two Days' Voyage

Perhaps, when the need arises, I will tell Lord Atticus that I am Simon Hart the Engineer.Who knew I wouldn't be valued more than Gaidon? ...However, one has to think twice.In fact, I always thought that the owner of the "Aiba" sent someone to kidnap the French inventor in order to obtain the "Roche Lightning", and neither Europe nor America was willing to buy it from the unacceptably high price Thomas asked .In case Toros Roche wants to betray his secret, I will continue to stay by his side and continue to act as a guardian.Wouldn't it be better to continue to take care of him? ...yes, I had to allow myself to see everything and hear everything... who knows? . . . At last I will learn the secrets I did not discover in the sanatorium!

Now, where is the Aiba going? ……This is the first question. Who is this Count of Atticus? ... This is the second question. Given the speed of this amazing yacht, no matter how many days the first problem is solved, I will finally know how the engine works after pushing forward. As for the second question, I am not so sure that I can reveal it. I think that this mysterious figure must have had a great purpose in concealing his origin, and there is no indication of his nationality.Although he could speak fluent English--I confirmed this when he visited Building 1--he had a harsh and trembling accent, which is not the case for northerners.I don't recall hearing this accent while banking in Europe and America, though perhaps it's not a specific drag on the dialect of Peninsular Malaysia.In fact, his complexion had the characteristics of a tropical dweller, almost olive green, a bit like bronze, his hair was slightly curly, black as ebony, his eyes were deep-set and shot out like bee-stinging eyes, and his pupils were almost motionless. , with a slender figure, broad shoulders, and bumpy muscles showing sufficient physical strength, all of which indicate that Count Atticus may belong to a certain ethnic group in the east of the border.

I think Atticus is just a pseudonym, as is the title of Earl.Although he gave the sailboat a Norwegian name, he was certainly not from Scandinavia.He had nothing Nordic about him, neither his calm expression, his fair hair, nor the soft look in his pale blue eyes. In short, no matter who he is, he must have evil intentions when he sent someone to kidnap Thomas Roche and me. So is he doing it for some foreign government, or for his own benefit? ... Does he want to use Thomas Roche's invention alone and is already able to use it? ... This is the third question that I cannot answer.Will what I hear and see later lead me to find the answer before I run (if running is possible)? ...

The Aiba continues to sail in incredible fashion.I was free to walk about the deck, but never got beyond the deckhouse, with its doors jutting out over the forward part of the foremast. In fact, I once thought of going under the bowsprit, from where I might be able to lean out and see the bow of the sailboat cleave the water.But the sailors on watch (apparently on orders) blocked my way, and one of them said to me roughly in broken English: "Go back to the stern... go back to the stern! . . . You're in the way!" drive? ...with no one driving. Do they know that I want to know what propels the sailboat? ... Possibly, Captain Spard, watching the scene, might have guessed that I was trying to figure out the manner of the voyage.Even a caretaker of a sanitarium marveled at the speed with which he sailed without a sail or a propeller.Anyway, for some reason they forbade me to go to the bow of the "Aiba".

About ten o'clock, when a light wind blew up--a very favorable northwesterly wind--Captain Spard gave some instructions to the boatswain. The boatswain immediately whistled and had the mainsail, foresail and jib sailed.Not even a warship is more regular and orderly than they are. The "Aiba" tilted slightly to port, and the speed of the ship increased significantly.However, the engine did not stop at all, because the sails were not fully opened, (the sails must be fully opened if the sailboat is going to sail only on sails.) A fresh breeze blew regularly.They also facilitate navigation.

The sky is very beautiful, the clouds in the west dissipate after rising to the zenith, and the sparkling sea is bathed in thousands of rays of sunshine. I began to pay attention to the route we took, to the extent possible.I have traveled a lot at sea and am able to estimate the speed of a ship.I think the Alba's speed is somewhere between ten and eleven knots.The heading remained the same, and I could easily identify it by approaching the binnacle in front of the helmsman.Although guard Gai Dong couldn't walk to the bow, but he could walk to the stern.Several times I glanced quickly at the compass, whose needle kept pointing east, or more precisely, southeast.

So we're driving this part of the Atlantic Ocean, to the west of which is the coast of the United States. I tried to remember which islands or archipelagos I would encounter before reaching the Continent in this direction to the east. The thirty-fifth parallel passes through North Carolina, where the galleon left just forty-eight hours ago. If I'm not mistaken, this parallel cuts the coast of Africa near Morocco eastward, but it passes three thousand nautical miles from the United States. Azores.The Azores belong to Portugal.Perhaps it can be assumed that the home port of the "Aiba" is located on one of the islands, and it will return there? ... No, I cannot agree with this assumption.

In addition, before passing the Azores, the thirty-fifth parallel passes through the British Bermuda Islands, which are only 1,200 nautical miles from the United States.It seems to me less likely to assume that Count Atticus hijacked Thomas Roche for the benefit of some European power, which was the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.To be honest, the possibility of this person doing this for their own benefit still exists. Three or four times during the day Count Atticus sat in the stern.His eyes seemed to search carefully for every speck on the horizon.Whenever a sail or a wisp of smoke appeared on the distant sea, he watched them for a long time with the high-powered nautical telescope.Even disregarding my existence.

Sometimes Captain Spard came up to him, and the two exchanged a few words in a language I neither knew nor heard. The owner of the "Aiba" is most willing to chat with the engineer Sokol, and they seem to be very close.The engineer likes to chat, he's not as obnoxious and gloomy as the other mates, what is his identity on the sailboat? ... Is he just a personal friend of Count Atticus? ... Could it be that he and the earl traveled to sea to share the enviable life of a wealthy ship owner? ... Anyway, he was the only one who showed even the slightest interest, if not affection, in me.

As for Thomas Roche, I didn't see him all morning, probably because he hadn't calmed down after the attack the night before and was still shut up in his room. At three o'clock in the afternoon, Count Atticus, before returning to his room, beckoned me to come, and I was convinced of this supposition. I don't know what this Count Atticus is up to, but I know what I'm going to say to him. "Does Thomas Roche's seizure last long?..." he asked me in English. "Sometimes it lasts forty-eight hours," I replied. "what should we do?……" "Just let him stay quietly until he falls asleep. After a night's sleep, Thomas Roche will calm down and return to his usual unconscious state."

"Okay, Gaidon, if necessary, you will continue to take care of him like you did in the nursing home..." "I take care of him?..." "Yes...on the sailboat...before we reach our destination..." "Where are we going?" "To where we are going tomorrow afternoon," answered Count Atticus. Tomorrow... I thought.So is it not to the coast of Africa or the Azores? ...Then the "Aiba" can only reach the Bermuda Islands. When Count Atticus stepped up the first step of the deckhouse, I stopped him: "Sir," I said, "I want to know . . . I have a right to know where I go . . . and . . . " "Here, Caretaker Guyton, you have no rights. All you have to do is answer when asked." "I protest..." "Just protest," retorted the imperious and arrogant man, giving me a nasty look. He went down from the deckhouse to the bilge, leaving me with Engineer Sokol. "If I were in your position, I would resign myself to fate, Gaidon care..." he said with a smile, "When one is in a complicated situation..." "Screaming is always allowed... I suppose." "What's the use... when no one can hear you?..." "Someone will hear later, sir..." "In the future...it will be too long!...In short...you can yell if you want!" After sarcastically making this suggestion, Engineer Sokol walked away, leaving me alone to ponder. About four o'clock, six miles to the east, a large ship appeared to meet us.It's very fast and the outlines are getting sharper and clearer.Light black smoke spiraled up from the two chimneys.This is a battleship, because a narrow swallowtail flag flutters in the wind on the top of the mainmast. Although there is no flag on the bow, I recognize that it is a cruiser of the Federal Navy. I wondered secretly whether the Aiba would pay the customary salute to the cruiser as it passed by. No, at this moment the sailboat deliberately sailed away from the cruiser. For a speedboat that might arouse suspicion in general, this approach did not surprise me.But what surprised me the most was the way Captain Spard handled the sailboat. He came to the windlass in the bow and stopped beside an indicator of the kind used to transmit orders in a steamship's engine room.After he pressed a button on the instrument, the "Aiba" moved 11° 15' to the east, and at the same time, the crew gently let go of the back corner of the sail. Apparently some order was given to the driver of some kind of machine, and as a result, the sailboat moved inexplicably under the action of some "motor", the principle of operation of which I do not know as yet. As a result of this maneuver, the "Aiba" slanted far away from the cruiser, while its course did not change at all.Why would a warship interrupt the voyage of an unsuspecting clipper? ... But at about six o'clock in the evening, another ship came, and its port boom could be seen, and this time the Alba behaved very differently.It did not avoid the ship, and Captain Spard gave a command through the indicator, and the sailboat sailed east again, gradually approaching the ship. An hour later, the two boats were close to each other, only about three or four nautical miles apart. There was no wind on the sea.It was a long, three-masted cruiser and tall ship, and its high sails were being furled.Don't expect the wind to blow up at night. Tomorrow, the sea will be calm. The three-masted sailing ship must still be here.As for the "Aiba", driven by the mysterious engine, it kept approaching the three-masted sailing ship. Naturally, Captain Spard ordered the sails to be lowered, and the crew, led by Boatswain Efhonda, carried out the order with admirable swiftness, as a sailor on a regatta should be. When night began to fall, the two ships were separated by one and a half nautical miles. Captain Spade came towards me, drew me near the starboard port, and badely ordered me to return to my cabin. I could only obey his orders, however, before leaving the deck, I saw that the bosun hadn't had the berth lights lighted at all, while the three-masted ships had their little berth lights on, green to starboard and red to port lamp. There is no doubt that the sailboat intended to enter the waters of the three-masted schooner unnoticed.The speed of the ship slowed down, but the direction of the ship did not change. I estimate that the Alba may have sailed two hundred miles to the east since the night before. I went back to the room feeling uneasy.My dinner is already on the table.But, with my inexplicable worry, I barely touched it, and lay down on the bed, waiting for sleepiness to set in. This uneasiness lasted for two hours.The surroundings are very quiet, only the slight trembling of the sailboat, the lingering of the water under the planks and the gentle bumping of the sailboat when moving on the calm sea sometimes disturb the tranquility. My mind is entangled with all kinds of things that have happened in the past two days, and I can't rest for a moment.Tomorrow afternoon, we will arrive... Tomorrow, I will take care of Thomas Roche on land, just as the count said, "if necessary." When I was first held in the bilge, I knew the sailboat was sailing on Lake Bomberico Sovender when—about ten o'clock—I felt the sailboat just come to a halt. Why stop the ship? ... We hadn't seen land when Captain Spard ordered me off deck.According to the map, only Bermuda would be encountered in this direction, and it would take fifty to sixty miles from nightfall before the lookout could see it. The "Aiba" not only stopped, but remained almost motionless.There is only a slight even shaking.You can hardly feel the surge of the waves.There was no wind on the sea either. I kept thinking about the merchant ship, which was a mile and a half away when I got back to the house.If the sailboat keeps approaching it, it will definitely meet it.Now that the sailboat stopped moving, the difference between the two ships was only three or four hundred meters.The three-masted schooner, which lay at sunset with no wind, was unable to sail westward.I can see it through the porthole if it is night. It occurred to me that maybe I could take advantage of this opportunity.Why not try to escape?Since there will be no hope of regaining freedom in the future... It is true that I can't swim, but after jumping into the sea, with the help of the buoys on the side of the ship, can't I reach the three-masted sailing ship as long as I can fool the watchful sailor? ... First, I'm going to leave the room and climb the deckhouse ladder...there's no movement in the crew quarters or deck...they're probably asleep at this point...try it... When I tried to open the door to the room I found it locked from the outside, which was to be expected. I must abandon this plan, because the possibility of failure is too great! ... Better to go to bed, for although my body is not tired at all, my spirit is really tired.I am tormented by entangled and contradictory thoughts, which I may drown in my sleep... I fell asleep at last, but was awakened by a strange noise, such as I had never heard in a sailboat. Daylight began to whiten the glass of the porthole, which turned to the east.I looked at my watch...it was half past four in the morning. My first concern is whether the "Aiba" has restarted. No, that's true...the sails were neither raised nor the "engines" started.If it's sailing there's going to be some shaking, and I can't be wrong about that.Also, at sunrise the sea was as calm as it was at sunset last night.Even if the Alba sails for hours while I sleep, at least for now it's stationary. The sound I heard was the rush of footsteps to and fro on the deck—the footsteps of men with heavy loads.At the same time, an equally similar noise filled the cargo hold under the floor of my room, the hatch aft of the foremast.I also felt something poking lightly at the submerged part of the hull.Could it be that some dinghy is moored beside it? ...are they busy loading and unloading? ... However, it is impossible for us to be at the destination.Count Atticus had said that the Alba would not reach its destination in twenty-four hours.I repeat, last night it was fifty to sixty miles from the nearest land, Bermuda.It couldn't have turned west again, and came near the American coast again, because the distance was too great.Well, I think it makes sense that the sailboat hadn't moved all night.Before falling asleep, I knew it had just stopped sailing.At this point, I discovered that it hadn't restarted. I waited for them to allow me to go back on deck.The door to the room is still locked from the outside, I just checked.It seemed impossible for them to prevent me from going out in broad daylight. Another hour passed.Dawn penetrated through the porthole.I looked out through it... There was a thin layer of mist on the sea, but the rising sun immediately dispelled it. As I could see half a mile away, if I didn't see the barque, it was probably because it was anchored to the port of the Alba, which I couldn't see. There was a grinding sound, and the key turned in the lock.I pushed open the door, climbed the iron ladder, and stepped onto the deck, just as the crew closed the cargo door at the bow. I look for Count Atticus...he is not on deck, but in his room. Captain Spade Engineer Sokol was overseeing the crew loading a few small packages into the hold, perhaps fresh out of the hold, to be carried aft.That's why I woke up to the hustle and bustle.Apparently the crew is busy getting the cargo up because we're about to reach our destination... We are not far from the port, maybe the sailboat will break down in a few hours... So... what about the sailboat to our left? ... He must still be where he is, because there has been no wind at sea since last night. I looked over there... The three-masted sailboat disappeared without a trace, the sea was empty, there was no ship on the distant sea, and there was no sail on the horizon, both north and south... After thinking about it for a moment, this is the only explanation I can offer, though it is conditional: the Aiba resumed its journey while I was asleep, although I knew nothing about it.It left the dead three-masted barque behind, which is why I couldn't see it from the gunwale. And, I forbade myself to ask Captain Spard and Engineer Sokol, they would not condescend to give me an answer. At this time, the captain Spard went to the indicator and pressed a button on the upper part, and the bow of the "Aiba" immediately shook violently.Then it began to sail rapidly eastward again, with the sails still furled. Two hours later, Count Atticus appeared at the door of the deckhouse, taking his usual place.Engineer Sokol and Captain Spud immediately went to talk to him. The three watched with their universal telescopes aimed at the southeast and northeast horizons. So it's no wonder I'm keeping my eyes on this direction.But, without a telescope, I saw nothing on the distant sea. After lunch we went on deck again--all except Thomas Roche, who was still in the house. At half-past one a sailor climbed to the fore-mast beam and sighted land.Because the Alba was going at an unusually fast speed, I also immediately saw several points of the coast. In fact, two hours later, at a distance of less than eight nautical miles, the faint outlines of the land gradually emerged.The sailboat got closer and closer, and the outline became clearer and clearer.This is the silhouette of a mountain, or at least a stretch of higher land.A short, light smoke rose from the top and drifted towards the zenith. Is there a volcano near here? ...then maybe...