A Queer Race: The Story of a Strange People — page 70: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A QUEER RACE. 67 ‘I don’t know as we can; and keep our number always flying.” ‘There is still one thing we have not thought of. Suppose something happens—that some emergency arises that forces me to quit the wheel while you are asleep?” ‘The only thing you can do in that case would be to lash the wheel amidships. I will show you how. But we must do our sleeping in the captain’s cabin. We shall always be within hail of each other. You have only to whistle, and I will come.” ‘“Aren’t you afraid of sleeping in the captain’s cabin?” ‘Not a bit. I shall not take the fever. If I could, I should have done so long since.” ‘* All the same, I would not throw away a chance, if I were you. ‘There is no telling——” ‘*Qld Tom,” as the sailors had called him, smiled su- perciliously, as much as to say that J did not know what I was talking about. ‘Very well,” I said: ‘‘Goand turnin. You had no sleep Jast night, and I had. I will take the wheel.” ‘Thank you, sir. I do feel a bit sleepy. Wake me up when you feel tired. Keep her off and by—as she is; that’s all you have to do.” And so I was left in sole charge of the Diana—a strange position for a landsman on his first voyage! A captain without a crew, a navigator innocent of naviga- tion, steering generally for the equator, and with an un- certain hope of: sooner or later reaching the coast of South America, somewhere betweeen the Amazon and Cape Horn, and the off chance of knocking against the continent of Africa, or being blown into the Pacific! Not the sort of outlook to make a man merry, even though he has nothing particular on his mind; and on mine lay dark memories of the valley of the shadow ot death through which I had just passed. But I was too busy to brood. I did not steer so well that I could do it automatically like an A. B. I had to give the wheel my closest attention and watch the ship continually, yet with all my pains I let her ‘fall off” several times, much to my annoyance. The wind, moreover, occasionally varied a point or two, thereby increasing the difficulty of my task. But I did not call Bolsover; I thought I would !c% Eomicboo cS (E(@)