Across India; Or, Live Boys in the Far East, Page 3

  ACROSS INDIA

  CHAPTER I

  ABOUT FINDING THE LONGITUDE

  "Well, Captain Scott, what is the run to-day?" asked Louis Belgrave, theowner of the steam-yacht Guardian-Mother, which had at this date made herway by a somewhat devious course half way round the world, and was in theact of making the other half.

  The young magnate was eighteen years old, and was walking on the promenadedeck of the steamer with a beautiful young lady of sixteen when he askedfor information in regard to the run, or the distance made by the shipduring the last sea-day.

  "Before I answer your question, my dear Louis, I must protest against beingany longer addressed as captain, for I am not now entitled to thathonorable appellation," replied the young man addressed by the owner.

  "Once a captain always a captain," replied Louis. "One who has beena member of Congress is still an 'Honorable,' though his term ofoffice expired twenty or forty years ago. The worthy commander of theGuardian-Mother was always called Captain Ringgold in Von Blonk Park andNew York, though he had not been in command of a ship for ten years,"argued Louis.

  "That's right; but the circumstances are a little different in my case. Inthe first place, I am only eighteen years old, and my brief command was avery small one, as the world goes. It hardly entitles me to be calledcaptain after I have ceased to be in command. In charge of the little MaudI was the happiest young fellow on the Eastern Continent; but I am just ashappy now, for this morning I was formally appointed third officer of theGuardian-Mother, at the wages paid to Captain Sharp when he had the sameposition."

  "I congratulate you, Mr. Scott," said Louis, grasping the hand of the newofficer, though he had been duly consulted in regard to the appointment theday before.

  "Permit me to congratulate you also, Mr. Scott," added Miss Blanche, as sheextended to him her delicate little hand.

  "Thank you, Miss Woolridge," replied the new third officer, raising theuniform cap he had already donned, and bowing as gracefully as adancing-master. "Thank you with all my heart, Louis. I won't deny that Iwas considerably broken up when the Maud was sold; but now I am glad of it,for it has given me a position that I like better."

  "Now, Mr. Scott, what is the run for to-day?" asked Louis, renewing hisfirst question.

  "I don't know," replied the third officer with a mischievous smile.

  "You don't know!" exclaimed Louis.

  "I do not, Louis."

  "I thought all the officers, including the commander, took the observation,and worked up the reckoning for the longitude. We got eight bells nearly anhour ago, and the bulletin must have been posted by this time."

  "It was posted some time ago. All the officers work up the reckoning; and Idid so with the others. The commander and I agreed to a second."

  "What do you mean by saying you do not know the run?" demanded Louis.

  "I do know the run; but that was not what you asked me," answered Scottwith the same mischievous smile.

  "What did I ask you?"

  "The first time you asked me all right, and I should have answered you if Ihad not felt obliged to switch off and inform you and Miss Woolridge of mynew appointment. The second time you put it you changed the question."

  "I changed it?" queried Louis.

  "You remember that when Mrs. Blossom asked Flix where under the sun he hadbeen, he replied that he had not been anywhere, as it happened to be in theevening, when the sun was not overhead."

  "A quibble!" exclaimed Louis, laughing.

  "Granted; but one which was intended to test your information in regard toa nautical problem. You asked me the second time for the run of to-day forthe last twenty-four hours."

  "And that was what I asked you the first time," answered Louis.

  "I beg your pardon, but you asked me simply for the run to-day."

  "Isn't that the same thing?"

  "Will you please to tell me how many hours there are in a sea-day?" askedScott, becoming more serious.

  "That depends," answered Louis, laughing. "You have me on the run."

  "You will find that the bulletin signed by the first officer gives the runas 330 miles; but the answer to your second question is 337 miles, about,"added the third officer. "Just here the day is only twenty-three hours andforty minutes long as we are running; and the faster we go the shorter theday," continued the speaker, who was ciphering all the time on a card.

  "I don't see how that can be," interposed Miss Blanche, with one of herprettiest smiles.

  "There is the lunch-bell; but I shall be very happy to explain the mattermore fully later in the day, Miss Woolridge, unless you prefer that Louisshould do it," suggested Scott.

  "I doubt if I could do it, and I should be glad to listen to theexplanation," replied Louis, as they descended to the main cabin; for thenew third officer was permitted to retain his place at the table as well ashis state-room.

  The commander had suggested that there was likely to be some change ofcabin arrangements; for it was not in accordance with his ideas of rightthat the third officer should be admitted to the table, while the first andsecond were excluded; and Louis was very desirous that his friend Scottshould remain in the cabin. The repasts on board the steamer were socialoccasions, and the party often sat quite an hour at the table, as at thepresent luncheon. But as soon as the company left their places, Louis andMiss Blanche followed the third officer to the promenade deck, to hear thedesired explanation of sea-time.

  "Of course you know how the longitude of the ship is obtained, MissWoolridge?" the young officer began.

  "Papa explained it to me once, but I could not understand it," replied thefair maiden.

  "Then we will explain that first. One of the great circles extendingthrough the poles is called the prime meridian; and any one may beselected, though that of Greenwich has been almost universally adopted.This place is near London. From this prime meridian longitude iscalculated, which means that any given locality is so many degrees eastor west of it. Sandy Hook is in longitude 74 deg., or it is that number ofdegrees west of Greenwich. Aden is in 45 deg. east longitude."

  "Then you find how many miles it is by multiplying the number of degreesby 69," suggested Miss Blanche.

  "You have forgotten about knots, or sea-miles," said Louis.

  "So I have! I should have said multiply by 60," added the young lady.

  "That would not do it any better," replied Scott.

  "Degrees of latitude are always the same for all practical purposes; butdegrees of longitude are as--

  'Variable as the shade By the light quivering aspen made,'"

  continued the third officer, who was about to say "as a woman's mind;"but he concluded that it was not quite respectful to the lovely beingbefore him.

  "What a poetical sea-monster you are, Mr. Scott!" exclaimed Miss Blanchewith a silvery laugh.

  "I won't do so any more," Scott protested, and then continued hisexplanation. "Degrees of longitude vary from nothing at the poles, up to69.07 statute, or 60 geographical or sea-miles, at the equator. We arenow in about 15 deg. north latitude; and a degree of longitude is 66.65statute miles, or 57.9855 sea-miles, near enough to call it 58. By theway, Louis, multiply the number of statute miles by .87, and it givesyou the sea-miles. Divide the knots by the same decimal, and it givesthe statute miles."

  "I will try to remember that decimal as you have done," replied Louis."Now, Mr. Scott, don't open Bowditch's Navigator to us, or talk aboutprojection,' 'logarithms,' 'Gunter,' and 'inspection;' for I am not capableof understanding them, for my trigonometry has gone to the weepingwillows."

  "Talk to us in English, Mr. Scott," laughed Miss Blanche.

  "Let us go up to Conference Hall, where there is a table," said the thirdofficer, as he produced a book he had brought up from his state-room. Heled the way to the promenade, where he spread out a chart in the "OrientGuide," which had twenty-six diagrams of a clock, one at the foot of
everyfifteen degrees of longitude. At this point the commander came upon thepromenade.

  "Formerly the figures on a timepiece in Italy, and perhaps elsewhere, wentup to twenty-four, instead of repeating the numbers up to twelve; and thesediagrams are constructed on that plan," continued Scott.

  "An attempt has been made to re-establish this method in our own country. Ilearned once from a folder that a certain steamer would leave Detroit athalf-past twenty-two; meaning half-past ten. But the plan was soonabandoned," interposed the captain.

  "Aden, from which we sailed the other day, is in longitude 45 deg. east. Everydegree by meridians is equal to four minutes of clock-time. Multiply thelongitude by four, and the result in minutes is the difference of timebetween Greenwich and Aden, 180 minutes, or three hours. When it is noon atGreenwich, it is three o'clock at Aden, as you see in the diagram beforeyou."

  "Three o'clock in the morning, Mr. Scott?" queried the commander.

  "In the afternoon, I should have added. Going east the time is faster, and_vice versa_," continued the young officer. "At our present speed ourclocks must be put about twenty minutes ahead, for a third of an hour hasgone to Davy Jones's locker."

  "I understand all that perfectly," said Miss Blanche with an air oftriumph.

  "You will be a sea-monster before you get home. The sirens were beautiful,and sang very sweetly," added Scott jocosely.

  "They were wicked, and I don't want to be one. But I do not quiteunderstand how you found out what time it was at noon to-day," added theyoung lady.

  "For every degree of longitude sailed there is four minutes' difference ofclock-time," Scott proceeded. "You know that a chronometer is a timepieceso nicely constructed and cared for, that it practically keeps perfecttime. Meridians are imaginary great circles, and we are always on one ofthem. With our sextants we find when the centre of the sun is on thecelestial meridian corresponding to the terrestrial one; and at thatinstant it is noon where we are. Then we know what time it is. We comparethe time thus obtained with that indicated by the chronometer, and find adifference of four hours."

  "I see it all!" exclaimed the fair maiden, as triumphantly as though shehad herself reasoned out the problem. "Four hours make 240 minutes, andfour minutes to a degree gives 60 deg. as the longitude.

  "Quite correct, Miss Woolridge," added Scott approvingly.

  "If I could only take the sun, I could work up the longitude myself," thelittle beauty declared.

  "You have already taken the son," replied Scott; but he meant the son ofMrs. Belgrave, and he checked himself before he had "put his foot in it;"for Louis would have resented such a remark.

  "I have seen them do it, but I never took the sun myself," protested themaiden.

  The sea had suddenly begun to make itself felt a few hours before, and aflood of spray was cast over the promenade, which caused the party toevacuate it, and move farther aft. It was the time of year for thenorth-east monsoons to prevail, and the commander had declared that thevoyage would probably be smooth and pleasant all the way to Bombay. It didnot look much like it when the ship began to roll quite violently.