ed up the
paper and thrust it into his pocket, saying--

"All right, `Sparks', that'll do. And--look here, youngster--just keep
this message strictly to yourself, d'ye see? Don't say a word to
anybody about it. I'll see that all necessary precautions are taken;
but I don't want the news of there being ice ahead to be talked about;
it'll only make the passengers unnecessarily nervous and uneasy; and I
don't want that. Besides, it will be easy enough to alter the course a
few degrees south if it should be found desirable. You understand me?"

"Perfectly, sir," answered `Sparks,' lingering for a moment at the cabin
door. "Anything else, sir?"

"No," answered the skipper, "nothing more at present, thank you. But
keep your ears open for any further messages."

The operator saluted and vanished; whereupon the skipper produced the
chart of the North Atlantic, by the aid of which he was navigating the
ship, spread it open upon the table, and studied it intently. A pencil
mark consisting of a number of straight lines--the junction of each of
which with the next was indicated by a dot surrounded by a small circle,
against which was a note indicating the date, hour and moment of the
ship's arrival at each particular spot--showed the track of the ship
across the ocean from her point of departure abreast of Daunt Rock, and
a thinner, lighter pencil line extending on to New York marked the still
untravelled portion of the route. Taking a pencil, parallel ruler and
pair of dividers in his hand, Captain Prowse proceeded carefully to jot
down the position of the _Bolivia_, as indicated by her message; having
done which he gave vent to a sigh of relief; for he saw that the course
which he was pursuing would take the _Everest_ some sixty miles to the
north of that point.

"Thank God! that's all right," he murmured. "There's nothing to fear.
That patch of drift ice is not in the least likely to extend as far
north as our track. Besides, with the precautions that we are
observing--taking the sea temperature every half-hour, and so on--and
the maintenance of a good look-out, we are perfectly safe. I suppose I
ought to tell Brown" (the chief officer) "about this message; but I
won't--no; I'll keep it to myself, for the chap's as nervous as a cat,
and would want to slow down as soon as the dusk comes. And I don't want
that; I mean to make this a record passage, and don't intend to be
frightened into losing several precious ho