Chapter 22 Chapter 7: The Beginning of Returning

At ten o'clock in the morning, the Spirit had left Barbados, the easternmost island of the Lesser Antilles, far behind the horizon. The award-winning students went back to their hometown to visit and tour, and the tour ended smoothly.During the entire voyage, they were not subjected to the severe turbulence that often occurs in this sea area.The journey back has begun.However, instead of returning to Europe, the ship was heading towards the Pacific Ocean, because, the next day, Harry Markle and his accomplices were the owners of the ship. In fact, it seems that the "passengers" of the Ghost cannot escape the fate that these bandits have arranged for them.The next night, they will be killed suddenly in the cabin without any warning! ... Who will reveal this bloody tragedy aboard the Spirit one day in the future? . . . In the maritime news columns, the barque will appear in the list of all those wrecked ships with men and cargo missing.People would start a futile search, and Captain Markle would change the ship's name, hoist another flag, and make a change in the ship's rigging to commit crimes in the Western Pacific.

There is no doubt that there are now eleven "passengers" on board, compared to ten for Harry Markle and his accomplices.This does not mean that the new crew members will bring everyone some luck in rescue. The reason is very clear. This group of people has the advantage of surprise attack. When the time comes, facing these strong and bloodthirsty guys, How to carry out effective resistance? ... Besides, the massacre is at night again ... The victims will be struck suddenly in their sleep, and it is useless for these poor people to beg for mercy! ...they will get no mercy. The brazen fellow "Captain" will make his criminal schemes come true.He had good reason to reassure John Carpenter and others.The voyage through the Antilles did not disappoint them.The anchorage in Barbados alone was worth seven thousand pounds to them, and that was not counting the gratuity paid to them by Mrs. Karen Seymour.

The sailor who boarded the Spirit was named Will Meads.He is only twenty-five years old.Only five years older than Roger Hinsdale, Louis Clodijon and Albertus Lewin. Will Miz was of medium height, vigorous, well-built, lithe, and supple, the sort of man the top-of-the-top man needs, with honesty and frankness of character.Moreover, he is a young man who is eager to help others, well-behaved, dignified, and deeply religious.In his previous work, he had never been punished and behaved neither humble nor overbearing.At the age of twelve, he went on board as a young apprentice sailor.Afterwards he became midshipman, sailor, and then a corporal, the only son of Mrs Meads, a widow for many years who held a trusted post at Notting House.

Will Meads had been living with his mother for two months after his last voyage in the South Seas.Mrs. Karen Seymour, who admired the honest young man's talents, had just won the position of first mate on a cargo ship from Liverpool to Sydney, Australia, through her connection. There is no doubt that Will Meads, who has rich sailing practical experience, talent and enthusiasm, will make a difference and will definitely become the captain in the future.In short, he has calm, brave and decisive qualities, and has the essential keen eyesight of sailors, which is their most basic quality. When the Spirit broke down in the port of Barbados, Will Meads was waiting for an opportunity to take a ship to Liverpool.So Mrs. Karen Seymour thought of contacting Captain Paxson to ensure that the young seaman returned to Europe with the ship.Thus Will Meads was to cross the Atlantic to Liverpool, where the three-masted schooner was supposed to return, and it was at this port that Will Meads would embark on a merchant ship, and Mr. Horatio Pattenson and his young companions From there they will take the train back to London and then back to Antilles Secondary School where they will be given the welcome they deserve.

Besides, Will Meads wasn't going to sit around doing nothing the whole way back, but this "Paxson" wasn't going to use him at all to replace the one who was tragically lost in Cockle Bay. On the evening of the 21st, after saying goodbye to Mrs. Karen Seymour and kissing his mother good-bye, Will Miz came aboard the Spirit with his bags.He also got a sum of travel expenses that the kind lady of the castle insisted on asking him to accept.The money was enough for him to spend while he waited for the merchant ship to set off in Liverpool. Harry Markle was reluctant to put Will Miz with them, even though his men hadn't filled all the crew quarters.Because it would prevent him from carrying out his evil plot.There was an empty cabin in the fishy building, and Will Miz, a new passenger, was put in it.

Once on board, Will Miz said to Harry Markle: "Captain Paxson, I wish to make myself a useful man on board... I am at your command, and I may take my turn if you please..." "Maybe!" Harry Markle replied. Fittingly, after observing the crew on board, Will Miz was not impressed.It's not just about the Captain of the Spirit, but John Carpenter, Coty, and others.If the management on the barque had left him without reproach.Then none of these overly enthusiastic faces and the undisguised hypocrisy under the ferocious faces could make him feel trustworthy at all.He decided to be somewhat wary of the crew.

Besides, Will Miz didn't know Captain Paxson, and heard he was a great crew member, even before he took command of the Ingenuity.So Mrs. Karen Seymour must have chosen him after careful consideration. In addition, during their stay at Notting House, the young students always praised Captain Paxson for his resourcefulness and courage in the stormy waters of Bermuda.If the coming voyage was satisfactorily accomplished, wouldn't the return voyage be likewise? ... Therefore, Will Miz thought that the first impression he made on board the ship would be erased. When Coty learned that Will Miz offered to help, he said to Harry Markle and John Carpenter:

"Ah! . . . We can't trust the new guy! . . . A great seaman is going to watch with you, John . . . " "We can safely let him take the helm! . . . " said John Carpenter sarcastically. "With such a helmsman, you don't have to worry about getting off course. The Spirit will go straight to Liverpool..." "Yes, there, the police have been notified anyway," Coty continued: "When we arrive, we will be greeted with proper courtesy..." "Enough joking...!" Harry Markle exclaimed, "May everyone hold their tongues for another twenty-four hours..."

"Be more careful," reminded John Carpenter, "I feel this Marine looking at us in a strange way..." "In any case," Harry Markle continued, "if he wants to talk, he should be talked to as little as possible or not at all! ...Modern, in particular, must not repeat what he did in St. Lucia... " "Well!" said Coty at last, "as long as he doesn't drink, he'll be as silent as a fish, and they'll stop him drinking until we drink to Captain Markle's health." Besides, Will Miz didn't seem interested in talking to the crew either.Once on board, he went into his cabin, packed his bags, and waited for the students to come back.The next day, he helped with some pre-departure preparations.

On the first day of the voyage, Will Meads met people in the back of the ship whom he hadn't seen up front—the brave lads.They are very interested in him.In particular, Tony Leno and Magnu Anders seemed very happy, "to talk to a seaman about things at sea." After lunch, Will Miz came out for a walk on deck with a pipe in his mouth. The Ingenuity had lowsails, twotrapes, and triplets.It was supposed to sail from outside the Antilles along the northeast coast on the Gulf Stream to Europe in order to pass through the mouth of the Panama Canal.To Will Meads' surprise the captain did not steer the ship with a port wind, but a starboard wind, which would have kept the ship away from the southeast.Of course, there is no doubt that Harry Markle has his reasons for doing this, and Weir Miz has no right to ask him this question.Besides, he thought, after fifty or sixty miles, the Spirit would be heading northeast again.

In fact, Harry Markle is intentionally sailing the boat towards the southern tip of Africa.From time to time he watched to see if the helmsman was keeping the ship on this course. But Tony Reynolds, Magnu Anders, and two or three other classmates were talking to the young sailors, walking now on deck and now on the poop.They asked him questions about his profession, which they had never discussed with the taciturn captain until now.At least Will Miz was happy to answer their questions, and enjoyed talking to them, seeing their interest in sea affairs. First of all, which countries he has been to during his sailing career, whether on warships or merchant ships... "Young gentlemen," replied Will Meads, "I have been traveling since I was twelve, or my childhood..." "Have you crossed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans many times?..." asked Tony Reno. "Yes, many times, either in sailboats or steamboats." "Have you ever fought on a battleship? . . . " asked Magnu Anders. "Yes," replied Will Miz, "when the United States sent one of its fleets to Pageley Bay." "Have you ever been to China?..." Tony Reynolds shouted, he couldn't hide his envy for a man who had anchored on the coast of China. "Been to...Mr. Renault, I can assure you that getting to China is no more difficult than getting to the Antilles." "Well, which ship, then? . . . " asked John Howard. "Onboard the armored cruiser HMS Stendah under Commodore Harry Walker." "So," Magnu Anders asked again, "you came aboard as a cadet?" . . . "Yes... as a young sailor apprentice." "So, are there any heavy guns on the Standa? . . . " asked Tony Raynor. "Yes, there are heavy artillery... twenty tons..." "Twenty tons!" repeated Tony Raynor. How happy the brave boy would be if he could one day fire a shot from such a marvelous cannon. "But," added Louis Clodiron, "you have sailed the longest time in a ship of war, have you not?" . . . "No, young gentlemen," replied Will Meads, "I've only been on a man-of-war for three years. I started my training as a top-handleman on a merchant ship." "On which ships? . . . " asked Magnu Anders. "On the Northern Brother in Cardiff, with which I sailed to Boston, and on the 'Great Britain' at Newcastle." "Is this a big ship?..." asked Tony Raynor. "Of course it was a collier of thirty-five hundred tons, and she went to Melbourne with a full load." "Then what are you bringing back? . . . " "Shipping Australian wheat to Rice in the port of Edinburgh." "And don't you prefer steamboats to sailboats? . . . " asked Nils Alber again. "I prefer sailing, very much," replied Will Meads. "That's sailing, and generally it's as fast as any other sailing. Besides, one doesn't have to sail through soot, and there's nothing more spectacular than a ship with full sail. It sails at the speed of Up to fifteen to sixteen nautical miles!" "I believe what you say...I want to believe what you say!..." Tony Reynolds mused, his imagination crossing all the oceans of the world. "Then what kind of ship is that ship you are going to? . . . " "The Alisa Warden of Liverpool, a four-masted steel ship, thirty-eight hundred tons, carrying nickel ore from Tio to New Caledonia." "What is it carrying in England?..." John Howard took up the topic. "Coal for San Francisco," replied Will Miz. "I also know it's hired to bring Oregon wheat back to Dublin." "How long is the voyage?..." Magnu Anders asked. "About eleven or twelve months." "Ah!" exclaimed Tony Raynor, "this is exactly the voyage I've been hoping to do! . . . sailing between sky and water for a year! . . . Back from the Cape of Good Hope! . . . almost round the world! . . . " "Young sir," replied Will Meads, smiling, "it appears that you enjoy sailing..." "That's right...it's better to be a seaman than a passenger!" "Well said!" announced Will Miz, "I see you're very interested in the sea!" "Yes, he and Magnu Anders love the sea best," said Nils Alber, laughing. "If we listen to them, we should put the ship in their command and let them take turns to be helmsman!……" "That's unfortunate," Louis Clodieron reminded, "Magnu and Tony will have to learn sailing from scratch, they are too old..." "Nobody said we were sixty!..." retorted Tony Raynor. "No...but we're twenty..." admitted the young Swede, "perhaps it's too late..." "Who knows?" replied Will Meads, "you're bold and decisive, you're smart, you're in good health, and you'll learn the trade in no time! . . . It's best to start young, of course. ...Indeed, there is no fixed age for commercial voyages." "In short," said Louis Clodiron, "when Toni and Magnus finish their studies at the Antilles High School, they will have this day..." "Yes, when we graduate from High School Antilles," concluded Tony Leno, "we are capable of any career...isn't that true, Mr. Pattenson." The leader just walked over, looking a little worried, maybe he was thinking about that famous Latin phrase, but he hadn't figured out its meaning yet.So he said nothing, and Tony Raynor looked at him sarcastically, without saying a word of sarcasm.But throughout the conversation, he thought the young boarders had a point, and they were the ones who carried the Antillean school flag with one strong, powerful hand.And this kind man is just pretending to be a good teacher. He is the general secretary of the Antilles Middle School.That is to say, he knows nothing about sailing... He has never traveled across the ocean, not even in his dreams... As for ships, he has only seen those sailing up and down the Thames in London... In short, he He is also an administrator of this famous school, and he is still able to face the wrath of the Sea God! ... There is no doubt that the sailboat shook violently in the early days of the voyage... "Shake it left and right," Tony Raynor gasped. "Yes, roll..." Mr. Pattenson went on, "I've obviously withstood the roll and pitch! . . Walking freely on a sailing boat?... Please believe me...experto crede Roberto." "Horatio," Tony Raynor gasped again. "Horatio... Now that I have taken the same Christian name as the great Horace! . . . If I don't want to fight the storm, the tornado, the whirlwind, I don't want to be the plaything of the storm. I can at least Watching all this with cold eyes without changing face..." "I applaud you, Mr. Pattenson," replied Will Miz. "We'd better not have that experience again... I've had it, and the bravest people I've ever met, they sometimes Also tormented by terror, feeling powerless in the face of the storm..." "Well!" said Mr. Pattenson, "that's exactly what I'm going to say, but it's not the cause of my anger. . . I never mean it. I'm not just a prudent man, a leader, a Young life is responsible, and I feel the weight of my responsibility! ... Besides, Will Meads, I hope we have nothing to worry about, fear about things like this ... " "Like you, and I hope so, Mr. Pattenson, severe weather is rare in this part of the Atlantic at this time of year. But there is always the worrying thunderstorm. People never know about it." What it will look like and how long it will last... We may have thunderstorms like these, as they often occur in September, and I sincerely hope they don't turn into storms..." "We all hope so," said Niels Alber. "Of course, even in bad weather we can have confidence in our captain, who is an astute seaman..." "Yes," replied Will Miz, "I know Captain Paxson's been through all the tests, and I've heard people talk of him in England as the worst captain ever..." "That's right," exclaimed Huber Perkins. "What about his crew?" Will Miz asked. "Did you see them doing their job?" "John Cappenter seems to be a very capable boatswain," exclaimed Nils Alber, "and his men are very familiar with the handling of the ship." "They're not talkative..." Will Miz reminded. "But in fact they behaved very well," replied Magnu Anders, "and, besides, the discipline on board was very strict. Captain Paxson never let a single sailor ashore. . . . No! They had nothing to do Accused of..." "That's good," Will Miz said. "We want one thing," added Louis-Claudilon, "in the current situation, to maintain the current situation."