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I was of course on the lee-side of the deck, so I could only catch an occasional disconnected word of what passed between the trio to windward, but I presently gathered that the master seemed to be endeavouring to persuade the skipper to wear ship while we still had room enough to execute that manoeuvre; but Captain Vavassour appeared to be objecting, upon the plea that, once on the other side of the point, we had nothing more to fear, whereas, should we wear ship now, we should be heading for the Penmarks as soon as we got round upon the other tack, and should reach them, and be faced with the task of weathering them during the hours of darkness.
"Now, assuming that position to be correct, Mr Trimble and we can do nothing else, I think how far are we from the Penmarks, and how do they bear?" The master took his dividers, measured the distance, applied the instrument to the margin of the chart, and announced the distance "Seventy-six miles." "Good!" ejaculated the skipper. "And their bearing?"
I heard the Captain say something about "Audierne Bay," and then, a little later, the master said something about "land takes a westerly trend Penmarks;" and, finally, the Captain, as though closing a discussion, said, "Very well, then, we will try her, while there is still room, and the sooner the better. Get the mainsail on her again at once, Mr Howard."
He dared not relieve the ship of another inch of canvas, for we were on a lee-shore, and embayed, the land astern curving out to windward so far that its farthest visible projection bore a full point on our weather quarter, while our charts told us that beyond that point the dreaded Penmarks stretched out still farther to windward.
The master laid his parallel ruler down on the chart, with its edge passing through the dot representing the ship's position, and also through the Penmarks; then he carefully slid the ruler along the surface of the chart until that same edge passed through the centre of the compass diagram, and read off the bearing "No'th-east, half east." The skipper turned sharply round to the quartermaster.
On the third night Iseult dreamt this dream: that she held in her lap a boars head which befouled her skirts with blood; then she knew that she would never see her lover again alive. Tristan was now too weak to keep his watch from the cliff of the Penmarks, and for many long days, within walls, far from the shore, he had mourned for Iseult because she did not come.
This last would have given us no concern at all had we been heading to the southward, for in that direction there was plenty of sea room; but we had now turned round and were rushing back northward north-north-east by compass, to be exact; and we knew that somewhere ahead of us whether on the port or the starboard-bow we were not at all certain were the terrible Penmarks; and, beyond them, the jutting Pointe du Raz, Douarnenez Bay, Pointe de Saint Mathieu, and the dangers that lurk between Ushant and the mainland, all bad enough in themselves, but with an added terror due to the furious currents that swirl round that part of the coast, and of the direction of which one can never be quite certain.
'Had you accorded me a very little patience, I might, perhaps, have explained myself. Not trusting himself with a word, Kearney nodded, and the other went on: 'The post this morning brought me, among other things, these two newspapers, with penmarks in the margin to direct my attention.
Already was Iseult near; already the cliff of the Penmarks showed far away, and the ship ran heartily, when a storm wind rose on a sudden and grew, and struck the sail, and turned the ship all round about, and the sailors bore away and sore against their will they ran before the wind.
He had himself carried to the cliff of the Penmarks, where it overlooks the sea, and all the daylight long he gazed far off over the water. Hear now a tale most sad and pitiful to all who love.
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