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To undeceive him, and tell him it was the compass which I looked at and not the watch, I knew would only end with my losing that instrument as well; so I told him it was not my guide, but a time-keeper, made for the purpose of knowing what time to eat my dinner by.
We did not see any thing until the 3d of August, when we made Cape Frio; at 12 o'clock at night we were right abreast of it, and had it bearing north half west five or six miles; its longitude, by the time-keeper, is 41° 40' west of the meridian of Greenwich* and its latitude is 22° 58' south.
Dan, in the meantime, had been busy, and had induced Midshipman Rollins, of the fourth class, to act with him as second. Rollins, indeed, needed little urging. He was eager to see the fight. Tyson, of the second class, was secured as referee, while Trotter, of the third class, gladly agreed to act as time-keeper.
It continued wavering between the south by east and south-east until we had got another degree to the southward, when it settled at south-east a steady breeze; but the easterly current, which would now have been an advantage to us by keeping the transports to windward, had ceased, and we found a strong westerly one running for several days, from 30 to 45 miles in 24 hours, by which our account was brought back to its original agreement with the time-keeper and lunar observations.
I glanced at the poop ladders, and remembered that nothing could have gone up there, without the Second Mate or the Time-keeper seeing it. Then I leant my back up against the bulkshead, and thought the whole matter over, rapidly, sucking at my pipe, and keeping my glance about the deck. I concluded my think, and said "No!" out loud.
Finding no prospect of a change of wind by continuing to stand to the eastward, we tacked in the above longitude, and latitude 6° 48' north, and stood to the westward; for the wind now appeared fixed between south-west and south, a steady gale with a large sea from the southward; many of the convoy sailed so heavy, and were so leewardly, that to gain ground thus circumstanced was impossible; we had therefore only to hope, that by standing off to a greater distance from the coast of Africa, we might find the wind incline to the eastward of south: we, therefore, kept working in this manner for twelve days, in the course of which time our dead reckonings were four° to the westward of the truth, occasioned by the the strong easterly currents; in the latitude of 4° 30' north, and longitude, by the time-keeper, 19° 40' west, the wind began to incline to the south-south-east, which gave us some reason to hope that the south-east trade wind was at no great distance.
The man at the mast-head had seen this shoal a considerable time before he spoke of it, and, when asked why he did not mention it sooner, he said that he took it for the reflection of the setting-sun; forgetting that the sun, if it had been visible, set to the westward: this circumstance occasioned Lieutenant Ball to name it "-Booby shoal:" its latitude is 21° 24' south, and the longitude, by the time-keeper, 159° 24' east of Greenwich.
Conners and Brayton were Treadwell's seconds. Since it is not considered fair to have the referee or time-keeper from either class represented in a fight, Edgerton and Wheeler, of the second class, were referee and time-keeper respectively. All of the young men were early at the usual fighting ground.
"We are waiting for you, Don John," said Sam Rodman, who was one of them. "It isn't ten yet, and I have the papers all ready. Who is to be time-keeper?" asked the chairman. "I have a watch with a second hand, and I will take that office," said Frank Norwood, who was the third.
"No, straight up the field rush it!" ordered Allen. Once more he made a slight gain. "One minute more!" warned the time-keeper. "Oh, can we do it!" panted Wallace. He called on Ralph West for a straight plunge between guard and tackle. The plucky left-half drew a long breath, and gathered himself for the tremendous energy he knew would be needed. They were but four feet from the goal line.
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