Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 7.djvu/98

78 over the water like sea-gulls. The schooner, gracefully inclined, was bearing windward in spite of the breeze, which had begun to freshen. Her mast and foresails stood out clearly against the dark background of clouds, and the sea foamed beneath her bows. When at two cables' length from the Great Eastern, she suddenly veered and launched a shore-boat. Captain Anderson gave orders to heave to, and for the first time during a fortnight the wheels of the screw were motionless. A man got into the boat, which four sailors quickly pulled to the steamship. A rope ladder was thrown over the side of the giant down to the pilot in his little nutshell, which the latter caught, and, skillfully climbing, sprang on deck.

He was received with joyous cries by the winners, and exclamations of disappointment from the losers. The pool was regulated by the following statements:

"The pilot was married."

"He had no wart on his nose."

"He had a light mustache."

"He had jumped on board with both feet."

"Lastly, it was thirty-six minutes past four o'clock when he set foot on the deck of the Great Eastern."

The possessor of the thirty-third quarter thus gained the ninety-six dollars, and it was Captain Corsican, who had hardly thought of the unexpected gain. It was not long before he appeared on deck, and when the pool was presented to him, he begged Captain Anderson to keep it for the widow of the young sailor whose death had been caused by the inroad of the sea. The captain shook his hand without saying a word, but a moment afterwards a sailor came up to Corsican, and, bowing awkwardly, "Sir," said he, "my mates have sent me to say that you are a very kind gentleman, and they all thank you in the name of poor Wilson, who cannot thank you for himself."

The captain, moved by the rough sailor's speech, silently pressed his hand.

As for the pilot, he was a man of short stature, with not much of the sailor-look about him. He wore a glazed hat, black trousers, a brown overcoat lined with red, and carried an umbrella. He was master on board now. In springing on deck, before he went to the bridge, he had thrown a bundle of papers among the passengers, who