41 Lure O Gold 1904

The Lure o
Gold
creased interest the passengers took in the search for
the treasure.
As soon as it was apparent to me that the gold was
not to be found between-decks the tension relaxed for a
time, and when the passengers went on deck for a few
hours rest I lay on a heap of tattered canvas in a corner
and slept soundly until I heard a call :
"All
first watch to the forehold!"
Now I was in the first watch and it
behooved me to
be stirring, but I did so slowly enough. When I sat
up and looked about me a scene of sad desolation met
Over the bestrewn and littered deck I could
my eye.
see what remained of the ruined and despoiled afterhouse,
and heard the crash of the axes, the grating of
the saws and the clink of the hammers on the heads of
the nail-cutters. My heart was heavy as I saw Doctor
Quaritch walk wearily forward to where I lay, shaking
his head and muttering mournfully.
"Well, John," he said, with a thin smile, when he
saw me, "we re still over a thousand miles from port.
At this rate it will take nearly all the woodwork on
board to run her in. Isn t it a pity
? Of course they
can put a hundred ship-carpenters to work and repair
the damage in a week, but still she ll never be the same
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