United States or Seychelles ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The Government, therefore, by a breach of agreement, make £138,000 a year out of the pass fund, and £120,000 a year out of the hospital fund; and the mining industry suffers in the meantime through maladministration in the department, and are doubly taxed in the sense that the companies have been obliged to establish and maintain at their own cost other hospitals all along the reef.
"That fellow will fore-reach a cable's length before he gets about!" exclaimed Spike. "He will prove too much for us at this sport! Keep her away, my man keep the brig away for the passage. We must run through the reef, instead of trusting ourselves to our heels in open water." The brig was kept away accordingly, and sheets were eased off, and braces just touched, to meet the new line of sailing.
Boatswain Peaks had taught the boys, a few at a time, how to set a sail, reef and furl it. They had been gradually accustomed to going aloft, until the giddy height of the main royal did not appall them, and they could lay out on the yards without thinking of the empty space beneath them. By the first of June, all the petty officers had been appointed, and every student had his station billet.
Nothing can be easier than to understand how there must have been a time when the coral polypes came and settled on the shores of this island, everywhere within the 20 to 25 fathom line, and how, having perched there, they gradually grew until they built up the reef.
There were one or two native fishermen walking along the reef, whipping the water; but they appeared to have caught only a few small rock-fish, pretty enough to look at, but not apparently good to eat. The shades of night compelled us to return to the yacht, laden with corals of many different species.
There had once been an islet on this part of the reef, a tiny thing, consisting of a few palms and a handful of vegetation, and destroyed, perhaps, in some great storm. I mention this because the existence of this islet once upon a time was the means, indirectly, of saving Dick's life; for where these islets have been or are, "flats" occur on the reef formed of coral conglomerate.
And no two men in the world more rejoiced than we as we clasped hands and embraced each other as only comrades may. It seemed the hugeous sea that had caught me had caught him likewise and hurled him, sore bruised, some mile to the south of the reef.
"I cannot understand why she is standing in this direction," observed Boxall. "Her commander can scarcely be aware of the existence of this reef, or he would be giving it a wider berth." The wind was against us, and the send of the sea drove us back almost as much as we went ahead; so that we made but slow progress.
"We shall not want any kites to-day," said Donald, as he made fast the throat halyard. "No; and you may have to reef this mainsail," added Rodman. "Not at all." "But it is flawy." "So much the better." "Why so?" "Because a fellow that understands himself and keeps his eyes wide open has a chance to gain something on the heavy flaws that almost knock a boat over. It makes a sharper game of it."
I have little further to say, having now given a full, true, and faithful account of my first voyage; although I might point out to you that I was no longer a "green" apprentice, but now able to "reef, hand, and steer," as "Old Jock," or rather Captain Gillespie to speak more respectfully of him, said when I was leaving the ship, expressing the hope of having me with him on his next trip out, as I "had the makings of a sailor" in me, and was "beginning to be worth my salt."
Word Of The Day