"Boyle," said Courtenay, severely, "what has come to you? Are you
actually making a joke?"
"I think I must have bin tongue-tied before, captain."
"Before what?"
"Before that lame duck in the fo'c'sle stuck his tobacco-cutter into my
jaw. I can talk like a prize parrot now--can't I, Miss Maxwell?"
Elsie was laughing, but she remembered the subject on which Boyle had
displayed his new-found power of speech; and human parrots are apt to
say too much.
"Please don't tell any more funny little stories," she cried, "or I
shall be putting dots in the wrong places."
"And causing us to waste time scandalously. Are you ready, Miss
Maxwell? Let me pin this compass card on the table. Use the parallel
ruler; regard each inch as a mile, and I'll do the rest by guesswork."
Courtenay took his binoculars, and went on to the bridge. He called
out the apparent distance of each landmark he could distinguish,
described it, and gave its true bearing. In the result, Elsie found
she had prepared a clear and fairly accurate chart of the bay and its
headlands, while the position of the distant range of mountains was
marked with tolerable precision. But Courtenay was far from being
satisfied.
"If I had a base line, or even a fresh set of points taken higher up
the inlet, I could improve on my part of the survey," he said. "Yours
is admirable, Miss Maxwell. Of course, I know you are an artist; but
mapping is a thing apart. That is first-rate."
"Perhaps you may be able to secure fresh data when the Kansas puts to
sea again," said Christobal.
"If I am conning the wheel, I must leave the chart-making entirely to
my assistant," replied the captain, lightly. "But I do mean to peep a
little further into our estuary. Before the ship sails I may have
another spare hour to devote to it."
"In what way?" asked Elsie.
"By utilizing the canoe. A mile or so higher up the channel I should
be clear of the bluff which hides Otter Creek. I imagine it will be
possible then to see the full extent of the bay. I must get you to
sound Suarez as to the lie of the land."
"I hope you will do nothing of the sort," protested Elsie, earnestly.
"Why? Do you think the canoe unsafe?"
"No, no; not that. But those waiting Indians. They might see you."
"Oh, the Indians again! I shall run no risk of that sort. It would
indeed be the irony of fate if the Kansas slipped her cable and left
the skipper behind."
"Huh! No fear! She'd follow you like Joey. I was tellin' Miss
Maxwell what a lucky fellow you were. Besides, if you went, I 'd be in
command, and you know what would happen then. By gad, if all else
failed, the bloomin' tub would turn turtle in the Pool."