CHAPTER XVI
_The Doctor Explains_
Ed's wound did not incapacitate him for the task of standing guard overthe wounded and captured mountaineer. Ed was able to get out of bed andsit about the house with a gun slung casually across his knees or hisshoulder, as the case might be, and the mountaineer perfectly understoodthat Ed did not mean for him to escape, by any possible chance, evenwhen his strength should return. So he was content to lie still andreflect as he did, that "this is better than the prison anyhow."
Tom went hunting, as the Doctor had suggested that he should. Three ofthe boys continued the chopping, while one stood guard--a duty that hadbeen made more imperative than ever by the mountaineer's declaration ofthe fixed purpose of the moonshiners.
When Tom returned in the evening he was overladen with game, as it washis custom to be on his return from a hunting expedition. He had twobig wild turkey gobblers, a great necklace of fat squirrels, nearly adozen hares and a small deer which he had dragged down the mountainbecause of his inability to carry it with his other load upon him.
"Here's meat enough," he said, "to last till Christmas anyhow," for itwas now well on into December, "and I've seen a big turkey gobbler thatI mean to get for our Christmas dinner. He can't weigh less than twentyor twenty-five pounds, and he's a shy, wise, experienced old boy; butI've found out what his usual rambles are and if the Doctor will lend methat long range rifle of his, I'll promise to get that bird forChristmas. I don't believe it would be possible to get within shot gunrange of him."
"Oh, you can take that gun, Tom, whenever you please," answered theDoctor. "In fact, I'm going to give it to you right now. Only I'll askyou when you go down the mountain with our prisoner, to mail a letterfor me, in which I will order another gun of the same sort."
"But, Doctor," said Tom, in protest, "I didn't mean--"
"Of course you didn't," answered the Doctor. "If you'd meant anything ofthe kind, I wouldn't have thought of giving you the gun. As it is, Idon't know anybody living that could make a better use of such a gunthan you can. So it is yours, and I'm going to send for another justlike it for myself. In the meantime, I'll borrow your shotgun for suchcasual uses as our camp life may require. Of course, you'll need theshot gun also, sometimes, but the rifle's yours, and I am sure it couldnot be in better hands."
The boy made his acknowledgments as best he could, and the best part ofthem was his fondling of the rifle itself in loving appreciation. But inhis embarrassment over the Doctor's generosity, he wanted to turn thesubject of conversation, and as supper was by this time over, he said:
"Now, Doctor, you were telling us the other night something about theold-time whaling ships. Won't you tell us to-night something about themodern ocean steamers?"
"Yes," broke in Jack. "You see, you are the only 'boy' among us who hasever seen a ship, and I believe you have crossed the ocean severaltimes."
"Yes, many times," answered the Doctor, meditatively, "and there aremany points of interest about a great modern ocean steamship, which itwill please me to tell you about if it will interest you to hear."
The boys expressed an eager desire to hear, and so the Doctorproceeded.
"In the first place," he said, "there is nothing in the world socomplete, so independent, so self-reliant, as a first-class steamship.She has everything on board that she can possibly need, or else she hasthe means of making it for herself. She makes her own electric lights,and every stateroom is supplied with them. She does not carry freshwater for drinking and cooking use, because she has a distillingapparatus capable of producing all needed fresh water from the saltwater of the sea. This is a great advantage. If you have ever read seatales, you know that in cases of long detention, one of the worst oftroubles in the old days was that the water became foul and the use ofit bred disease. The modern steamship always has a supply of perfectlypure distilled water."
"But, Doctor," asked Ed, "suppose one of the big steamers should breakdown at sea, with her machinery out of order, and wallow around outthere on the waves for a month or two, wouldn't the crew and passengersall starve to death?"
"That could hardly happen," said the Doctor, "for reasons which I willexplain presently. But even if it did happen, the crew and passengerswould not starve, for the reason that every great ocean liner carries inher hold enough food to last her passengers and crew for fully sixmonths, although I believe the law requires them to carry only onemonth's supply."
"How many are there on board usually?"
"Oh, that varies with every voyage. The big ships often carry three orfour hundred first-class passengers and have crews numbering fromseventy to one hundred men. But some of them carry, also, a large numberof steerage passengers. I once crossed from Italy on the North GermanLloyd's steamer Ems, when we had only twelve first class passengers,five second class and fifteen hundred in the steerage."
"And she carried food enough for all those people for six months?" askedJack, in wonder.
"Yes, and more."
"What sort of food was it?"
"Beans by scores of tons; corned beef and mess pork by hundreds ofbarrels, and an almost unlimited supply of canned meats and vegetables,"answered the Doctor.
"Now, as I said," the Doctor resumed, "no great steamer is ever likelyto be delayed for a month or anything like a month, at sea. In the firstplace, each of them carries a skilled chief engineer and a corps ofcompetent assistant engineers, a force of blacksmiths and machinists,and better still, duplicates of all those parts of her engines that areliable to break down. I remember one voyage on the American linerBerlin, when in midocean one of our cylinders cracked and threatened toburst under the steam pressure. The captain stopped the ship and theengineers and machinists cut that cylinder out. We lay there for twentyhours in a surging sea, and then proceeded, running with only two of ourthree cylinders in use."
"But what an awful bobbing about you must have got," said Ed, "lying outthere on the sea, with no headway."
"Oh, no!" answered the Doctor. "Our bow was kept always toward theoncoming waves, so that we rode rather more easily than if we had beenrunning under steam, for if we had been running we should have laid ourcourse straight for New York, taking the waves from any direction. As itwas, we got them dead ahead."
"But how did they hold the bow always toward the coming waves?" askedEd.
"By the use of what they call 'sea anchors.' These are great hollowcones, made of iron. At the big end of each a cable is fastened, and theanchors are thrown overboard, usually three or four of them. Of course,it is impossible in deep seas to send an anchor down to the bottom, butthese big cones catch the water, and by their dragging in it, they holdthe ship pretty nearly stationary, and, more important still, they keepher head always pointed toward the wind and waves, so that she rideseasily. Whenever a ship breaks down at sea she hoists three great blackdisks into her rigging. These mean to any ship that may approach, thatthe steamer is 'not under control'--that is to say, that as she is notrunning, she has no power to steer to one side or the other or in anyother way to keep out of the path of the approaching vessel. Then, theapproaching vessel steers clear of the disabled steamer, and usually shehoists a set of signal flags, asking if the steamer needs or wants anyassistance, and the steamer replies with another set of flags giving herresponse to the offer. The flag signalling system has been so completelyperfected by international agreement that two captains can carry on anyconversation they please by means of it, even though neither can speak aword of the other's language.
"Now this is the other reason why no steamer is ever likely to liecrippled on the ocean for a month or any thing like it. There areregular pathways on the ocean over which all the regular line steamerspass. So, while the ocean is so immense that you may steam over it fordays without seeing a vessel of any kind, nevertheless no steamer islikely to lie disabled for more than a few days without sighting someother that stands ready to render assistance. If the disabled steamerneeds anything the other furnishes it. If she is too fa
r broken down inher machinery to repair it at sea, the other will generally take her intow. If she is likely to sink--the most unlikely of all things--theother will take off her crew and passengers and leave the ship to herfate."
"Why do you say, Doctor, that sinking is the most unlikely of allthings?" asked Jack. "I should think it the most likely."
"Not at all," the Doctor replied. "The modern steamship is perhaps themost perfect product we have of scientific precision in construction. Aswell as you know that twice two makes four, the builders of a modernsteamship know to the uttermost pound the amount of strain that any waveblow can put upon any part of the ship, and they provide for it fourtimes over. Except in case of collision in a fog, the great ocean linersimply cannot sink at sea. If you took her out to mid ocean and thereabandoned her, she would float securely until some current should driveher on rocks or some other sort of shore. At sea, she is absolutelyunsinkable, except as I say by collision, and that is as true when sheis carrying thousands of tons of freight as at any other time."
"It is very wonderful," said Jack.
"Of course it is. If I were called upon to name the modern seven wondersof the world, I should unhesitatingly put the ocean greyhound first inthe list. But come boys! It is past our bed time, and we've heavy workto do to-morrow in getting those three great timbers ready to send downthe chute."
"I'm awfully sorry," said Tom.
"Sorry--for what?" asked the Doctor.
"Why, now that you've told us so much about the great ships, I want tohear more. I've at least a hundred questions to ask you."
"Very well," said the Doctor. "The winter will be long and we'll haveabundant opportunities of evenings to ask and answer all the questionswe please. But just now our business is to get to bed and to sleep, orrather that's the business of you other fellows. My business is to goout and relieve Jim Chenowith as our picket guard. So good night boys,and good, refreshing slumbers to you!"
With that the Doctor shouldered a gun, first carefully examining itscartridges, and strode out into the bitterly cold night to do his turnat guard duty. He had indeed made himself a boy among boys, and he hadwon all hearts.