Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 3.djvu/743

Rh which mistakes have arisen on this point: The hero, who, being a clergyman and a university man, is, of course, a master of every branch of science, is about to distinguish himself before the heroine by working out the position of the ship Proserpine, whose captain is senselessly drunk. After ten days' murky weather, "the sky suddenly cleared, and a rare opportunity occurred to take an observation. Hazel suggested to Wylie, the mate, the propriety of taking advantage of the moment, as the fog-bank out of which they had just emerged would soon envelop them again, and they had not more than an hour or so of such observation available. The man gave a shuffling answer. So he sought the captain in his cabin. He found him in bed. He was dead drunk. On a shelf lay the instruments. These Hazel took, and then looked round for the chronometers. They were safely locked in their cases. He carried the instruments on deck, together with a book of tables, and quietly began to make preparations, at which Wylie, arresting his walk, gazed with utter astonishment" (as well he might).

"'Now, Mr. Wylie, I want the key of the chronometer-cases.'

"'Here is a chronometer, Mr. Hazel,' said Helen, very innocently, 'if that is all you want.'

"Hazel smiled, and explained that a ship's clock is made to keep the most exact time; that he did not require the time of the spot where they were, but Greenwich time. He took the watch, however. It was a large one for a lady to carry; but it was one of Frodsham's masterpieces.

"'Why, Miss Rolleston,' said he, 'this watch must be two hours slow. It marks ten o'clock; it is now nearly mid-day. Ah, I see,' he added, with a smile, 'you have wound it regularly every day, but you have forgotten to set it daily. Indeed, you may be right; it would be a useless trouble, since we change our longitude hourly. Well, let us suppose that this watch shows the exact time at Sydney, as I presume it does, I can work the ship's reckoning from that meridian, instead of that of Greenwich.' And he set about doing it." Wylie, after some angry words with Hazel, brings the chronometers and the charts. Hazel "verified Miss Rolleston's chronometer, and, allowing for difference of time, found it to be accurate. He returned it to her, and proceeded to work on the chart. The men looked on; so did Wylie. After a few moments, Hazel read as follows: 'West longitude 146° 53' 18". South latitude 35° 24'. The island of Oparo and the Four Crowns distant 420 miles on the N. N. E.,'" and so on. And, of course, "Miss Rolleston fixed her large, soft eyes on the young clergyman with the undisguised admiration a woman is apt to feel for what she does not understand."