Page:Cruise of the Dry Dock.djvu/146

 “How do you know it does?”

“I calculated the dock's position this morning.”

“Well, what of that? She will probably lie here till she rots in this stagnant sea.”

“That's the point: This is not a stagnant sea. There is a current of about six miles a day in the Sargasso, very slow, but it will change a ship's reckoning.”

Greer remained unimpressed. “What do you make of that?”

“Make of that! Why, man, the person who took this reckoning, took it this morning! That's the only way he could have got it. There was somebody on this schooner this morning when we sighted her.”

“This morning! This morning! Where in Davy Jones' locker——”

Madden was leaning over the chart scrutinizing it with careful eyes. At last he raised up in complete bewilderment.

“Farnol,” he said in a queer tone, “the crew meant to come here! Meant to sail through the Sargasso—clear away from all trade routes—incomprehensible but—just look!”