Пятнадцатилетний капитан / Dick Sand. A Captain at Fifteen. Уровень 2

The young whale made its appearance on the surface of the sea. The mother made a fresh dash in its direction.

Captain Hull looked towards the “Pilgrim,” and waved his signal frantically above his head. But no human efforts could effectually hasten the arrival of the ship. The wind was filling the sails, but the progress was slow.

The whale demanded attention.

“Sheer off, Howick!” bellowed the captain.

But the order was useless. The sailors saw the failure, and uttered one long, despairing cry. From beneath there came a tremendous blow from the monster’s tail.

It sent the boat into the air. In fragments it fell back again into a sea.

There was no hope. The whale returns once again to the attack; the waters around the struggling sailors seethe and foam.

In a quarter of an hour afterwards, Dick Sand, with the negroes, reaches the scene of the catastrophe. All is still and desolate. Nothing is visible except a few fragments of the whale-boat floating on the water.

Chapter IX

Captain Dick Sand

The first feeling after the terrible disaster was one of grief and horror at the fearful death of the victims.

Captain Hull and his men were swept away, and they were powerless to help. Not one was saved; the schooner reached the spot too late to offer the least resistance to the attacks of the formidable sea-monster.

When Dick and the negroes returned to the ship after their hopeless search, Mrs. Weldon sank upon her knees; little Jack knelt beside her; and Dick, old Nan, and all the negroes stood reverently around her.

The situation was indeed very grave. Here was the “Pilgrim” in the middle of the Pacific, hundreds of miles away from the nearest land, without captain, without crew, at the mercy of the wind and waves. It was a strange fatality that brought the whale across their path. Dick Sand, the apprentice-boy of fifteen years of age, was the sole individual who had the slightest knowledge of the management of a ship. The negroes were ignorant of seamen’s duties; and here was a lady with her child on board.

Such were the facts which presented themselves to the mind of Dick. He was gazing gloomily at the spot where Captain Hull, his benefactor, died. The lad raised his eyes sadly; he scanned the horizon with the vain hope to descry some vessel for Mrs. Weldon and her son.

The ocean was deserted. The whale disappeared. The apprentice knew enough to be brave. He did not have false expectations.