Chapter 20

CHAPTER XX.

NOVEMBER 15th to 20th.--The examination of the hold has at last
been made. Amongst the first things that were found was the case
of picrate, perfectly intact; having neither been injured by the
water, nor of course reached by the flames. Why it was not at
once pitched into the sea I cannot say; but it was merely
conveyed to the extremity of the island, and there it remains.

While they were below, Curtis and Dowlas made themselves
acquainted with the full extent of the mischief that had been
done by the conflagration. They found that the deck and the
cross-beams that supported it had been much less injured than
they expected, and the thick, heavy planks had only been scorched
very superficially. But the action of the fire on the flanks of
the ship had been of a much more serious character; a long
portion of the inside boarding had been burnt away, and the very
ribs of the vessel were considerably damaged; the oakum caulkings
had all started away from the butt-ends and seams; so much so
that it was little short of a miracle that the whole ship had not
long since gaped completely open.

The captain and the carpenter returned to the deck with anxious
faces. Curtis lost no time in assembling passengers and crew,
and announcing to them the facts of the case.

"My friends," he said, "I am here to tell you that the
'Chancellor' has sustained far greater injuries than we
suspected, and that her hull is very seriously damaged. If we
had been stranded anywhere else than on a barren reef, that may
at any time be overwhelmed by a tempestuous sea I should not have
hesitated to take the ship to pieces, and construct a smaller
vessel that might have carried us safely to land; but I dare not
run the risk of remaining here. We are now 800 miles from the
coast of Paramaribo, the nearest portion of Dutch Guiana, and in
ten or twelve days, if the weather should be favourable, I
believe we could reach the shore. What I now propose to do is to
stop the leak by the best means we can command, and make at once
for the nearest port."

As no better plan seemed to suggest itself, Curtis's proposal was
unanimously accepted Dowlas and his assistants immediately set to
work to repair the charred frame-work of the ribs, and to stop
the leak; they took care thoroughly to caulk from the outside all
the seams that were above low water mark; lower than that they
were unable to work, and had to content themselves with such
repairs as they could effect in the interior. But after all the
pains there is no doubt the "Chancellor" is not fit for a long
voyage, and would be condemned as unseaworthy at any port at
which we might put in.

To-day, the 20th, Curtis having done all that