Read Online 02 South Sea Adventure by Willard Price - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Willard Price
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hour the gallant little ship struggled to stay above the surface.
Then, as suddenly as it had come, the wind howled away. Men who had been braced against the wind found themselves unbalanced for lack of it. They had become used to lying on it as a firm bed.
The blue sky appeared again. The sun blazed. The whirling wrack of the storm full of howling devils, and looking like a monstrous evil genie, bore off to the westward at about twelve knots.
For a time the sea, without the wind to hold it down, was worse than ever. Then it moderated and waves ceased to surge over the deck and pour into the hold. The pumps began to win. The ship rose.
Five exhausted men breathed a silent prayer of thanks.
Hal anxiously inspected the tanks. None of the lids had been dislodged and since he was always careful to keep the tanks full to the brim there had been no sloshing to injure the specimens. They seemed to have come through the experience better than their human friends.
‘Do we abandon the masts?’ Hal asked the captain.
‘No. We’ll tow ‘em to Ponape. We can get them restepped there.’
And so, with a roughly repaired rudder, her proud sails replaced by a chugging engine, her masts dragging behind her, the unlively lady limped on to Ponape.
Chapter 9
Into the lost world
Now they were in little-known seas. Even Captain Dee Flint had never been here before. They saw no ships, for the regular ship lanes lie far to the north and south.
Between the two world wars this part of the Pacific had been governed by the Japanese. They had jealously barred all ships but their own from its waters. Its 2,500 islands had no contact with the outside world except through Japan. Non-Japanese travellers visited them at risk of their lives.
And it was still a shut-away world in spite of the fact that it had been taken from Japan in World War II and was now governed by the United States as a trust under the United Nations.
Boys of the U.S. Navy stationed here felt as if they had been marooned on the moon. So it was with some excitement that they saw a strange craft enter the harbour of Ponape. They were going to have visitors!
Their excitement was shared by the visitors who were eager to step from the deck of the limping lady to the shores of the loveliest island they had yet seen.
‘Isn’t it a beauty!’ exclaimed Hal, looking at the white reef, the blue lagoon inside it, and, inside that, the towering green skyscraper of an island. Its wildly picturesque mountains were dressed with groves of coconut palms, spreading mango trees, giant banyans, and hundreds of unknown varieties bearing brilliant flowers or heavy fruit. The old Spaniards were right - they had called this ‘the garden island’.
And, unlike the low coral atolls, it evidently got plenty of rain. The high peaks invited storms. Even now around lofty Totolom peak there roared a black thunderstorm pierced with yellow shafts of lightning.
‘Gosh!’ said Roger, his eyes popping. ‘They talk about Tahiti and Samoa and all that. Are they really any better than this?’
‘Not near as fine,’ declared Captain Ike, who had seen them.
‘Then why do we never hear about this - gee, I don’t even know how to pronounce it…’
‘Po-nah-PAY is the way they say it. You don’t hear about it because mighty few people have ever been here.’
‘Look at Gibraltar!’ cried Roger.
It did look like Gibraltar. But according to the chart it was the Rock of Chokach. It loomed 900 feet high over the harbour, its basaltic cliffs falling away so steeply as to defy climbers.
Through a gap in the reel the dismasted schooner put-putted her way into the harbour. The lagoon was sprinkled with fairy islands. Between two of them, charming Takatik and Langar, Captain Ike dropped anchor in ten fathoms. The chart indicated dangerous shallows near shore.
There were no craft in the harbour except fishing boats and a few naval AJCs and L.S.T.s. There was one plane to be seen - a tired-looking
Then, as suddenly as it had come, the wind howled away. Men who had been braced against the wind found themselves unbalanced for lack of it. They had become used to lying on it as a firm bed.
The blue sky appeared again. The sun blazed. The whirling wrack of the storm full of howling devils, and looking like a monstrous evil genie, bore off to the westward at about twelve knots.
For a time the sea, without the wind to hold it down, was worse than ever. Then it moderated and waves ceased to surge over the deck and pour into the hold. The pumps began to win. The ship rose.
Five exhausted men breathed a silent prayer of thanks.
Hal anxiously inspected the tanks. None of the lids had been dislodged and since he was always careful to keep the tanks full to the brim there had been no sloshing to injure the specimens. They seemed to have come through the experience better than their human friends.
‘Do we abandon the masts?’ Hal asked the captain.
‘No. We’ll tow ‘em to Ponape. We can get them restepped there.’
And so, with a roughly repaired rudder, her proud sails replaced by a chugging engine, her masts dragging behind her, the unlively lady limped on to Ponape.
Chapter 9
Into the lost world
Now they were in little-known seas. Even Captain Dee Flint had never been here before. They saw no ships, for the regular ship lanes lie far to the north and south.
Between the two world wars this part of the Pacific had been governed by the Japanese. They had jealously barred all ships but their own from its waters. Its 2,500 islands had no contact with the outside world except through Japan. Non-Japanese travellers visited them at risk of their lives.
And it was still a shut-away world in spite of the fact that it had been taken from Japan in World War II and was now governed by the United States as a trust under the United Nations.
Boys of the U.S. Navy stationed here felt as if they had been marooned on the moon. So it was with some excitement that they saw a strange craft enter the harbour of Ponape. They were going to have visitors!
Their excitement was shared by the visitors who were eager to step from the deck of the limping lady to the shores of the loveliest island they had yet seen.
‘Isn’t it a beauty!’ exclaimed Hal, looking at the white reef, the blue lagoon inside it, and, inside that, the towering green skyscraper of an island. Its wildly picturesque mountains were dressed with groves of coconut palms, spreading mango trees, giant banyans, and hundreds of unknown varieties bearing brilliant flowers or heavy fruit. The old Spaniards were right - they had called this ‘the garden island’.
And, unlike the low coral atolls, it evidently got plenty of rain. The high peaks invited storms. Even now around lofty Totolom peak there roared a black thunderstorm pierced with yellow shafts of lightning.
‘Gosh!’ said Roger, his eyes popping. ‘They talk about Tahiti and Samoa and all that. Are they really any better than this?’
‘Not near as fine,’ declared Captain Ike, who had seen them.
‘Then why do we never hear about this - gee, I don’t even know how to pronounce it…’
‘Po-nah-PAY is the way they say it. You don’t hear about it because mighty few people have ever been here.’
‘Look at Gibraltar!’ cried Roger.
It did look like Gibraltar. But according to the chart it was the Rock of Chokach. It loomed 900 feet high over the harbour, its basaltic cliffs falling away so steeply as to defy climbers.
Through a gap in the reel the dismasted schooner put-putted her way into the harbour. The lagoon was sprinkled with fairy islands. Between two of them, charming Takatik and Langar, Captain Ike dropped anchor in ten fathoms. The chart indicated dangerous shallows near shore.
There were no craft in the harbour except fishing boats and a few naval AJCs and L.S.T.s. There was one plane to be seen - a tired-looking
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