CHAPTER XIX
ENTER ALI-NOURY PACHA AND THE FATIMÉ
There were two compasses on board of the Maud, and Captain Scott had one of them on the forecastle. Using his ingenuity, he had arranged a couple of sights so that he could accurately obtain the bearing of the Tarifa lighthouse.
"Now we have it!" exclaimed he at the right moment.
"Two: forty-five!" shouted Louis, as he looked at his watch.
"We took our departure at one: thirty, and we have made this distance in one: fifteen, fifteen miles," added the captain.
"But that is incredible!" protested Louis; "for that gives her twelve knots an hour, and, according to your statement, we have been going against the current that always sets out of the Strait."
"The Directory does not admit that it always sets that way, though it does so nearly always," said Scott. "Besides, the statement is that the tide sets out near the shores on both sides. It is in the middle of the Strait that the great current runs into the Mediterranean, and only the last five miles of our course was anywhere near the middle. It is plain enough to me that we have been helped by the outward current near the land, and retarded the last fifteen or twenty minutes."
"Swing six and cast out noine, and ye's will come to ut," laughed Felix, who did not take so much interest in the discussion as his companions.
Captain Scott took a piece of paper from his pocket and began to figure on it, though it was quite impossible to make the correct allowances for the current inward in the middle of the Strait and the ebb-tide near the shore of Spain.
"I think we can hit it pretty near," said he at last. "The tide helped us about a knot an hour, and the middle current kept us back about half a knot in twenty minutes. This is rather rough estimating, but I put it down that the Maud has made the equivalent of ten and a half knots an hour."
"Bully for the Maud!" shouted Felix.
"What you have done?" demanded Felipe, coming forward as far as the pilot-house.
"You have made ten and a half knots an hour, Mr. Engineer," replied Scott.
"Diez y medio nudos la hora," added Louis, saying the same thing in Spanish.
"Very good! I do more than that now," replied Felipe, delighted with the result.
"The eastern point of Tangier Bay is Point Malabata. Our course will take the steamer close to it, allowing a little for the current; and when it bears east half a mile distant, that will give us ten knots," said Captain Scott, looking at the chart all the time.
It was very evident to all on deck that the engineer was driving the engine to its utmost, and Louis thought it best to make a call upon him and caution him not to overdo the matter. Felipe pointed to the gage, and assured him that he was on the safe side, and that the boiler was very strong, for the Pacha had told him that he had required it to be built of double the ordinary strength. The steam-gage certainly indicated no danger; and, as Felipe would be the first one to be sent up into the air in case of an explosion, Louis concluded that he would not be willing to sacrifice himself as the first victim.
"What time is it now, Louis?" demanded the captain, when the steamer was off Point Malabata and half a mile beyond it.
"Three: thirty-five," replied Louis, who had drawn his watch before.
Scott began to figure again, repeating aloud his calculation as he proceeded.
"We have been through different currents since we began the last run," said he, with the plan in his hand. "Half the way we ran against the middle current, and the last half with the ebb-tide."
"How fast does the middle current run?" asked Louis.
"From twelve to twenty miles in twenty-four hours, the Directory says. I call it a knot an hour, and the ebb-tide the same," replied the captain. "This is not accurate, I know, but it is near enough for our present purpose."
"Well, what is the result when you have stirred the whole thing together?" asked Louis.
"We made the ten miles on the plan in fifty minutes. That is two-tenths of a knot a minute, which gives us just twelve knots an hour," answered the captain. "I had an idea that we were doing something of that sort."
"It seems incredible, for when we made our long voyage in the Maud, we timed her at nine knots an hour; and I went over the figures with the chart before me, when I got back to the Guardian-Mother."
"Sure, we were saving the coal thin, for we hadn't the layst bit of an oidea where we'd git any more," Felix interposed.
"Doce nudos la hora!" (Twelve knots an hour!) shouted Louis, when he saw Felipe come out of the engine-room.
"I am very happy," replied the engineer. "I know she could steamer that. She do it off Mogadore."
"She could steam that, not steamer," corrected Louis.
"I find something wrong which I don't see till to-day," added Felipe, who did not care much about his grammar and dictionary in his present delight.
"But where are we now, Captain Scott?" asked Louis, looking about him.
"You see Tangier ahead of you, don't you, Sir Knight?"
"I see it, Captain Sir Scott."
"You beat me on titles, Louis. There is Tangier; and it is only three miles distant," replied the captain. "You can see the big castle on the hill, the fort with three lofty arches lower down, and the minaret of a mosque in the distance. I don't know anything about the place; but I have heard the Pacha speak of it, and I think some of his property is there, for he said he had to go there often."
"Are we going ashore there?" asked Felix in good English.
"I think we had better not," said Scott, who was more pleased to sail the Maud than he was to see the sights on shore. "It is nothing but a one-horse Mohammedan city."
"Are you afraid of meeting the Pacha there?" asked Felix.
"I don't believe he is there; but I don't think he has any claim upon me now."
"You engaged in his service, and he provided you with a suit of Moorish garments," suggested Louis.
"He can have the suit now, if he wants it," replied Scott.
"But wouldn't you like to go back into his service, Captain?"
"No, I would not, for I am not the same fellow I was then, I hope."
"You certainly are not, Captain Scott," added Louis very decidedly.
"There are some camels on the shore!" exclaimed Felix, pointing to the animals.
"We saw enough of them in Mogadore," added Scott indifferently. "But if we are not going ashore, we will take a turn along the front of the city, and then head her for Gibraltar."
It was decided not to visit the city; and Morris was instructed to take the steamer along the shore, for the water was deep enough within a quarter of a mile of it. The Maud passed quite near to a great many feluccas with lateen sails, but there were no large vessels in sight.
Felipe had reduced the speed of the Maud so that she appeared to be making about ten knots an hour, which the captain said was fast enough for ordinary purposes; but the boat, it was now known, could make twelve, whenever occasion should require. The ship's company were soon satisfied with the view they obtained of the castle, the arches, the domed mosques, and the minarets, and the steamer stood out towards the broad entrance to the Strait.
Though Morris declared that he did not wish to be relieved at the wheel, the captain ordered Louis to take his place. The pilot insisted that it was nothing but fun to steer the boat, and he enjoyed every moment of the time he was so employed.
"But if it is fun, Morris, don't you think you ought to give the other fellows their share of it?" asked Captain Scott, with a cheerful smile on his face, as though he realized that he was addressing the pet son of a millionaire.
"I did not take that view of it, Captain, and was looking upon it as work, of which I was willing to do the lion's share," replied Morris. "I will cheerfully resign my place to Louis, and give him his share of the fun."
Louis took the wheel. The situation was not a novel one to him; for he had done his full part of the steering when it was regarded as work, especially from midnight till morning. But all the crew looked upon it as play under present circumstances. The Maud was now off the three tall arches, which seemed to be the support of a lofty battery at the seaward corner of the continuous wall which surrounded the city. The exterior view of the place had been obtained, and the captain was about to lay his course for Gibraltar.
"Sail, ho!" shouted Felix, who had been stationed at the bow to do duty as lookout; and the report came just at the moment when the change of helmsman was made.
"Where away?" demanded the captain.
"Dead ahead, sir," replied the lookout. "It is a steamer, and she is just coming around the point in front of us. Mind your eye, or she will run into us!" he shouted with a good deal of energy.
"Port the helm!" said Captain Scott sharply, as he went forward to the bow to obtain a better view of the approaching vessel.
The steamer was an elegant craft as she presented herself to the vision of the big four who were on the forecastle and in the pilot-house. She had just put her helm to starboard, and was rounding in so as to obtain a position in front of the city. As she turned a view of her ensign was obtained, and it was the red flag of Morocco, with what looked like a pair of curious shears in the middle of it, something like a pair of cimeters crossed.
"Just as sure as ye's live and braythe, it's the Fatty!" exclaimed Felix, beginning to be quite excited.
"It certainly looks like her," added Louis from the pilot-house.
"I can go a point farther than either of you, for I know she is the Fatimé," added Captain Scott. "Keep her off more, Louis!"
The Fatimé was the steam-yacht of Ali-Noury Pacha, a very wealthy and distinguished Moor, who had visited the Guardian-Mother when she was at Mogadore, and who had been so fascinated by the beauty and grace of Blanche that he became very disagreeable to the whole party. The ship had left that port at a very early hour in the morning to avoid meeting him again; but he had followed her to Madeira, where she had again run away from him.
The Pacha seemed to be desperately in earnest; for he pursued the party to Gibraltar, though the Guardian-Mother dodged him, and made a long trip in the waters of Europe. But the distinguished Moor had evidently made his usual yacht trip in the Mediterranean, and Captain Ringgold apprehended no further interference from him.
"There's the Pacha standing on the quarter-deck in full stage costume," continued Felix. "Bad luck to him!"
The Fatimé was now very near the Maud, and if the latter had not changed her course she would have collided with her. She was now abreast of her.
"Salihé, ahoy!" shouted the Pacha, who spoke good English.
"This is the Maud!" shouted Captain Scott, at the top of his lungs.
The Moorish steamer began to come about, and Felipe was ordered to put on all the steam he could raise.