کتاب طوفان‌ها

CHAPTER THREE

The book of storms

After Jukes finished writing his comments in the log book, the captain arrived in the chart-room, and it was Jukes’s turn to go below deck.

Out on the bridge, he met the second mate - a strange man with bad teeth, a long nose, and a red angry-looking face. He never spoke much to the rest of the crew. This was his first trip on the Nun-Slum.

‘It’s a good thing for those Chinese labourers that this ship doesn’t roll so easily in a storm,’ said Jukes laughing brightly, ‘don’t you think?’

‘Just you wait,’ said the second mate.

‘Do you mean to say that it’s going to get worse?’ asked Jukes.

‘You said it. Not me!’ said the second mate with a cold smile.

The ship was rolling more wildly now than before, and in the end Jukes decided that he must go back and speak to Captain MacWhirr.

It was a stupid idea to sail the ship into a typhoon. They should try and do something about it. Back once more in the chart-room, he found MacWhirr reading a book there.

‘What’s the matter?’ asked MacWhirr.

‘The swell’s getting worse, sir,’ replied Jukes.

‘Yes, I can see that,’ said MacWhirr. ‘Anything else?’

Jukes was not sure how to begin. Then he had an idea.

‘I was thinking of the passengers, sir.’

‘What passengers, Jukes?’

‘The Chinese labourers, sir.’

‘Well, why don’t you say what you mean? I’ve never heard anyone talk of Chinese labourers as paying passengers before! Ha! That’s a good one!’ he laughed. ‘And what about them?’ he went on.

‘Well, with all this rolling, a lot of water is coming into the ship’s hold. That’s where all the Chinese are, sir. I thought that maybe we could go east. Then the swell would come at us straight on, and not make us roll from side to side.’

‘So you want me to move a powerful steamship fifty degrees off course to make some Chinese labourers more comfortable? I’ve heard some stupid things in my life, but this. And what do you want us to do after that? Go fifty degrees the other way again to finish up back on course?’

‘I know that you don’t think much of my idea, sir, but at the moment we’re busy sailing into a typhoon,’ said Jukes, looking MacWhirr in the eye.

‘And it seems you think that we should try and sail away from it?’

Jukes said nothing. This was a different Captain MacWhirr from the one he knew. MacWhirr held up the book in his hand.

‘I was just reading the chapter on storms in this book. I think you’d like it. If we do what it says in this book, we have to sail all over the sea trying to avoid storms. Can you believe that? Think of us sailing an extra three hundred miles on our way to Fu-chau, just because of bad weather.

What about the extra coal - the extra time? Think of us coming into Fu-chau two days late; what will they say to me?

“Where have you been, Captain?” “Oh, it took us longer: we had to avoid some bad weather,” I’ll say. Then they’ll ask: “Was it a very bad storm?” “I don’t know,” I’ll have to answer. “I didn’t see it”.’

The captain looked at Jukes. Did the first mate understand what he was saying? MacWhirr tried to explain more:

‘That kind of thinking is all wrong. Jukes. A storm is a storm, and a steamship has just got to go through the storms that stand in front of her as well as she can. There are some things that books can’t tell, you.’ MacWhirr stopped talking, and sat down on the window seat. He pulled off his boots and put his legs up. He suddenly felt tired.

‘Jukes, tell them to call me if there’s any change in the weather.’

‘Yes, sir,’ answered the first mate, and - with that - he walked out on deck again, closing the chart-room door behind him.

Captain MacWhirr closed his eyes. He was tired after all that speaking. Those twenty minutes of conversation with Jukes were all that he believed about the sea and sailing. Now his head felt empty, and he could think of nothing.

He opened his eyes some time later. What was that loud noise? Was it the wind? Why did no one call him? Just then, he saw Jukes’s face at the open chart-room door. The first mate was shouting something, but the captain couldn’t hear him very well because of the wind.

‘Started. this suddenly. five minutes ago,’ cried Jukes.

MacWhirr tried to put on his boots. This was not easy because the ship was now moving from side to side very wildly. At last they were on.

Through the wind Jukes heard the captain saying: ‘I told you. any change. call me.’

Jukes tried to explain: ‘Wind. sudden. north-east. thought you. sure. hear.’ Again the wind carried away half his words before the captain’s ears could catch them.

‘We must try to stay on course for as long as we can,’ said MacWhirr.

Suddenly the Nan-Slum went up over an enormous wave, and ran deep down into the sea on the other side of it. Water flew over her sides. Jukes and MacWhirr couldn’t see anything for some minutes.

When they could see again, Jukes pulled at MacWhirr’s arm, and pointed up over their heads. Just then, all the stars went suddenly from before their eyes, and all that they could see was a heavy, coal-dark sky above them