CHAPTER III
THE MARTYR-ROLL OF NAVIGATORS
ON the 31st of January, four days after starting, the
Macquarie had not done two-thirds of the distance between
Australia and New Zealand. Will Halley took very little
heed to the working of the ship; he let things take their
chance. He seldom showed himself, for which no one was
sorry. No one would have complained if he had passed all
his time in his cabin, but for the fact that the brutal captain
was every day under the influence of gin or brandy. His
sailors willingly followed his example, and no ship ever
sailed more entirely depending on Providence than the Macquarie did from
Twofold Bay.
This unpardonable carelessness obliged John Mangles to
keep a watchful eye ever open. Mulrady and Wilson more
than once brought round the helm when some careless steering threatened to throw
the ship on her beam-ends. Often
Will Halley would interfere and abuse the two sailors with
a volley of oaths. The latter, in their impatience, would
have liked nothing better than to bind this drunken captain,
and lower him into the hold, for the rest of the voyage. But
John Mangles succeeded, after some persuasion, in calming
their well-grounded indignation.
Still, the position of things filled him with anxiety; but,
for fear of alarming Glenarvan, he spoke only to Paganel
or the Major. McNabbs recommended the same course as
Mulrady and Wilson.
"If you think it would be for the general good, John,"
said McNabbs, "you should not hesitate to take the command of the vessel. When
we get to Auckland the drunken
imbecile can resume his command, and then he is at liberty
to wreck himself, if that is his fancy."
"All that is very true, Mr. McNabbs, and if it is abso
lutely necessary I will do it. As long as we are on open sea,
a careful lookout is enough; my sailors and I are watching
on the poop; but when we get near the coast, I confess I shall
be uneasy if Halley does not come to his senses."
"Could not you direct the course?" asked Paganel.
"That would be difficult," replied John. "Would you
believe it that there is not a chart on board?"
"Is that so?"
"It is indeed. The Macquarie only does a coasting trade
between Eden and Auckland, and Halley is so at home in
these waters that he takes no observations."
"I suppose he thinks the ship knows the way, and steers
herself."
"Ha! ha!" laughed John Mangles; "I do not believe in
ships that steer themselves; and if Halley is drunk when we
get among soundings, he will get us all into trouble."
"Let us hope," said Paganel, "that the neighborhood of
land will bring him to his senses."
"Well, then," said McNabbs, "if needs were, you could
not sail the Macquarie into Auckland?"
"Without a chart of the coast, certainly not. The coast
is very dangerous. It is a series of shallow fiords as irregular and capricious
as the fiords of Norway. There are
many reefs, and it requires great experience to avoid them.
The strongest ship would be lost if her keel struck one of
those rocks that are submerged but a few feet below the
water."
"In that case those on board would have to take refuge
on the coast."
"If there was time."
"A terrible extremity," said Paganel, "for they are not
hospitable shores, and the dangers of the land are not less
appalling than the dangers of the sea."
"You refer to the Maories, Monsieur Paganel?" asked
John Mangles.
"Yes, my friend. They have a bad name in these waters.
It is not a matter of timid or brutish Australians, but of an
intelligent and sanguinary race, cannibals greedy of human
flesh, man-eaters to whom we should look in vain for pity."
"Well, then," exclaimed the Major, "if Captain Grant
had been wrecked on the coast of New Zealand, you would
dissuade us from looking for him."
"Oh, you might search on the coasts," replied the geographer, "because
you might find traces of the Britannia, but
not in the interior, for it would be perfectly useless. Every
European who ventures into these fatal districts falls into
the hands of the Maories, and a prisoner in the hands of the
Maories is a lost man. I have urged my friends to cross the
Pampas, to toil over the plains of Australia, but I will never
lure them into the mazes of the New Zealand forest. May
heaven be our guide, and keep us from ever being thrown
within the power of those fierce natives!"