LAND AND WATER 
March 2, 1916. 
moment Macquart, crimson in the face and seeming half 
strangled, was literally shot upwards on deck as though 
blown by an- explosion. 
Hull on going below had found Macquart lying in his bunk 
reading an old copy of the Bulletin. Ordered on deck and 
refusing the order, he had found himself suddenly seized, 
half-throttled, and thrust up the liatchway. 
All the animosity of Hull for this old time partner of his. 
all the hatred which he suppressed and kept under and 
covered over with fair or jesting words had suddenly blazed 
out. Tillman, though he had httle time to think recognised 
this fact and took a momentary chill at the si{;ht of the fury 
that had dwelt among them, hid away and sealed, suddenly 
unbottled like this. 
Seizing Macquart by the scruff of his neck, Hull rushed 
him to the port bulwarks till the buttons of his coat clashed 
against the rail. 
" Over you get." he cried. 
Next moment Macquart was in the boat, the tow rope 
was made fast and she forged ahead, Tillman, Jacky, Macquart 
and Houghton at the oars. 
Hull remained on board shouting directions and attending 
to the tow rope. 
As Tillman rowed, some instinct prompted him to take 
a peep over the gunnel of the boat. In the brilliant water 
and seeming only a few yards beneath the surface, he saw 
rocks streeling fantastic and variegated weeds to the tide. 
Few things could be more disturbing than that sight here, 
far from land and seemingly in the midst of the deep, deep 
ocean. It had a touch of the uncanny ; and the swell made 
it more terrifying still ; for the swell, though so wide-spaced 
as scarcely to be noticeable, had the lift and fall of a fathom 
so that now the rocks would be clear-viewed and now more 
vague, and nothing is more soul searching than that trick 
of the sea when it is played upon one in mid-ocean. But 
the work on hand gave little time for thought. Of all the 
labours of the sea, towing is the most heart-breaking when 
the tow is of any size and unless the towing boat is properly 
manned. They were unused to this special work, the idle 
life on board the Barracuda had put them out of training and 
the heat of the sun was terrific. 
Macquart suffered even more than the others being older 
and having less use of his muscles. 
Tillman, who rowed stroke, kept his eye on Hull and took 
his orders, and the Barracuda, now with her head turned away 
from the threatened danger, was making slow progress almost 
due east. 
■' There's a baling tin somewhere in the bottom of the 
boat," said Tillman, " fetch it up, one of you and give us a 
shrice all round." 
Houghton found it and did as he was told, and then the 
weary work went on. 
After nearly an hour of it, dazed, beaten, with scarcely 
an ounce of energy left, they were suddenly brought to hfe 
and full consciousness by a hail from the Captain. 
A breeze was coming up from the southward. A huge 
violet fan of ruffled water was spreading towards the Barracuda 
still prisoned in the dead, crystalline calm. 
They laid, the boat alongside and scrambled on board 
just as the breeze touched the canvas and the main boom 
swung to port. Hull had unlashed the wheel and when 
they were on deck he ordered the boat to be streamed astern. 
" No time to waste pickin' her up till we're clear of this 
tangle," he shouted. " Get to your places." 
) The mainsail had been set with two reefs in it for fear 
of a sudden squall, the reefs were shaken out, then foresail 
and flying jib were set and the Barracuda began to talk. 
Making six knots and with the dancing boat following her like 
a dog on a lead, she drew off steadily to the east nor' east, 
leaving the region of shoals and reefs behind her. 
Hull kept the lead going at intervals. Then when he 
considered all clear water ahead he brought the boat in and 
set a course to the northward. He had taken command of the 
Barracuda. Without a word to Tillman or the others, he 
bad stepped into the position of chief man on board and 
leader of the expedition. 
When the boat was secured, Hull, who was now at the 
wheel, began to talk. 
" We've been near done for by lazing and bad seaman- 
ship." said he. " That was a point of the Barrier Reef, 
which means to say we're out of our course by scores of miles, 
and that's your fault, Tillman. I should a' took the sun 
mjreelf and worked the reckonin'. No use in complainin' 
now, we've got to make right and there's no manner o' use 
talkin'. Then, again, the watches are all upside down, 
we've kep' no proper look out, chaps have been lyin' in their 
bunks that o ght- to a' been on deck. That's got to be set 
right. Now then, you, whater you goin' below for ? " 
" I'm going to fetch my pipe," said Macquart, who had 
his foot on the top step of the cabin companion-way. 
" You stay here on deck till I've finished talkin'," said 
Hull. " You've got to do your bit along with the rest of us 
and no skulkin'. Up with you and stand there by Jacky. 
I'm going to pick watches with Mr. Tillman." 
Macquart obeyed. 
" I takes Mac," said Hull. 
" And I take Houghton," said Tillman. 
" Right you are." said the Captain, " and Jacky can help 
as wanted. Now then, Mr. Tillman, you can go below with 
the starboard watch, and you, Mac, can go down and fetch 
your pipe and don't you be two minutes huntin' for it, or I'll 
come after you and liven you." 
.As Macquart went below, Houghton caught the glance 
he shot at Hull and at the same time a glimpse of the enmity 
that lived between these two men. 
CHAPTER X. 
Torres Straits. 
\HEY passed Latitude 15° S. and entered the Coral 
Sea, the weather growing warmer and the sea bluer 
day by day, and the nights more tremendous with 
stars. 
To Houghton the farther they went the more did the world 
of the tropics open like some vast and mysterious azure flower. 
The steamer that brought him to New South Wales had 
shown him little of the true mystery of this world of the sun, 
but here, in the Barracuda, so close to the sea, so dependent on 
the winds, so touched by the sun, life became a new thing 
and the world a wonderland. 
Nautilus fleets passed them and the foam flickers flung 
from the fore foot of the yawl looked like marble shavings 
on the lazulite of the sea. White gulls chased them and 
flittered hke snowflakes against the burning azure of the sky, 
and ever and ever the tepid wind pursued them whilst the 
Barracuda snored to it, lifting her stern to the heave of the 
swell and filling the hull with the whispering and slapping of 
the bow wash. 
Black fish walloped along, sometimes, as though racing 
them, and gulls, fish, nautilus fleets and wind all seemed 
bound and hurrying in the same direction — the Line ; the very 
sea that bore the Barracuda seemed racing towards the same 
goal, as though the world and all in it were pressing forward 
to some great carnival of colour and light. 
One evening they sighted Banks Island, swimming in a 
pearly haze on the far horizon. 
iSanks and Malgrave Islands stand out in Torres Straits 
from the point of Cape York like twins. 
" That's Banks," said Hull, " it's not the first time I've 
seen it. What you say, Mac ? " 
'• Well," said Macquart, " if you are sure of it what's 
the good of asking me — yes, it's Banks Island right enough." 
" Well, then, why can't you say so like a Christian ? " 
flared out Hull. " Blest if you ain't growin' more like a 
m'hogany image every day." 
" We're nearly into the Straits," cut in Tillman, who 
had been looking at the chart, " isn't it a bit dangerous to 
hold on like this at night ? How would it be to heave to oft 
the coast till morning ? " 
" Heave to ? " said Hull. " Why, it's a'most a full 
moon, and she rises less than an hour after sundown ; no, sir, 
we'll hold as we are and run the Straits with the help o' the 
wind. I've no notion of hangin' about waitin' for another 
ca'm or maybe a gale, to pile us on them rocks ; glass is steady, 
but glass or no glass, I'm goin' to push on. I'm mighty 
anxious to raise that river." 
Jacky was at the wheel. Houghton, belonging to Till- 
man's watch, was below. They went down, and Hull, getting 
the charts on the table, laid them out. There was the big 
chart of the New Guinea Coast and Torres Straits and the 
track chart showing their course and Banks Island. 
Hull pondered over the big chart on which was marked 
the point of disemboguement of Macquart's river. J 
" When we pass Banks," said he, " we'll be a hundred 
and eighty, or maybe, two hundred miles from the river 
mouth, allowin' for current and not wishin' to pile her on the 
reefs, I take it we'll be nosin' into the mouth of that river day 
after to-morrer mornin'. // the wind holds. It's just on the 
edge of Dutch Guinea. Y'see, up here, if the chart showed it, 
would be the Fly River, that's all British. Well, Mac, you'll 
have some pilotin" to do day after to-morrer mornin'." 
Macquart's eyes were singularly bright and he seemed 
to have shaken off the black dog that had been on his back 
for the last week or so. Maybe it was the near approach 
to the scene of his dreams, or maybe it was some other cause, 
but cheerfulness had him in her keeping. 
Houghton, who had tumbled out of his bunk to help in 
the consultation, noticed the fact. 
" Yes," said Macquart, " I seem to smell the place already, 
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