"ArkCovenantPart5" - читать интересную книгу автора (MacClure Victor)

CHAPTER FIVE of The Ark of the Covenant
A Ghostly Ocean


IT WAS three o'clock on the Tuesday morning, and Dan Lamont and myself were
standing in the porch of Hazeldene with my father. The roadster was purring out
on the avenue. The old man had the flimsy of a radio message in his hand.
"Lord Almeric will be ready for you, and asks that you will pick up an extra
passenger if possible," he said, "most likely his secretary. Can you do it?"
"Sure," I replied. "That will be all right. Did he say anything about the ship's
probable position at six o'clock?"
"No. Here's his message--you'd better have it. And here's a note I have written
to Lord Almeric."
"You'd better have an automobile waiting for him and his secretary at the
Battery from nine o'clock. We may make good time--it is fine flying
weather.You'll be all right with Didcot on the Seven going across, dad. Well, so
long!"
"So long, son! 'Morning, Dan!" my father said. "Look after yourselves. You're
fixed all right for food?"
"Milliken is sure to have everything fixed," I told him.
Just then Dick Schuyler, in a dressing-gown, came out of the house.
"I've just been through to headquarters," he said. "There isn't much ice about,
and flying conditions are good, Jimmy. You should pick the Parnassic up in no
time."
"Thanks, old man. Well, so long!"
We roared down to the sheds in quick time, and found the Merlin afloat and
ready, shining like silver under the arcs. Milliken had everything prepared,
from extra wraps and food for the passengers, down to easy chairs in the cabin,
and the fixing of the tank had been done in very workmanlike fashion. We were
good for three thousand kilometres.
We took off at three-fifteen, and I laid the course on a point or two north of
east, quickly bringing the Merlin up to a steady four hundred kilometres the
hour. It was reckoned that we should sight the Parnassic at a point six hundred
and fifty kilometres east of Cape Cod, and two hundred and fifty south of
Halifax, which gave us a thousand-odd kilometres of an outward voyage.
It would have been easy that morning to fly by the stars, they were so clean and
bright. Their light was reflected in a dusky sheen off the sea below. To the
north, the Great Dipper was poised on the end of his handle. What clouds there
were about were the merest wisps, and there wasn't a trace of fog.
Danny, wrapped as if for a journey to the North Pole, sat at my side, a little
behind where I was in the pilot's seat, and he leaned forward in interested
silence to watch every move of my hands, but his eyes were shining with delight
at his adventure. The murmur of the silenced engine came to us on a beautiful
liquid note which showed clearly how thoroughly Milliken and his men had done
their work. That excellent artificer sat on the floor at Danny's feet and leaned
against the side of the cabin, his head cocked sideways to listen intently to
the voice of the engine. There was nothing to do, for the Merlin was flying like
an angel.
The lights of steamer after steamer appeared faintly on the skyline, neared, and
passed under us out of sight. On our port bow the coastwise lights winked and