CHAPTER XI.
ASHORE
The stern part of the Rockhampton was the last left afloat, for at each plunge forward it was the fore and mid-portions that suffered most directly, although the whole vessel was shaken and getting rapidly disjointed.
It was also in the aft part that the doctor kept most of his explosives stored, as he had been a saloon passenger. The knowledge of this, however, was mercifully unknown to the original master of the ship and his companions; even Adela supposed that he must have removed them to the quarters he lately occupied, and that no explosion had followed the repeated and violent concussions gave her reason to believe that he must have cast them overboard before the vessel struck.
They had not been unprepared for the catastrophe, for Captain Nelson had found some opportunities for examining the charts and taking observations in that carelessly guarded ship.
He knew how far out of his reckoning Captain Anatole was as he hovered about and listened to his boasting, or read his log-book while the other was
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