Having to wait
till noon to find his exact position, he ordered the steamer to take a
short circular course of a few hours' duration, in hope of sighting the
buoy. But though at least a hundred telescopes scanned the calm ocean
breast for many miles in all directions, it was nowhere to be seen.
Precisely at noon, aided by his officers and in the presence of
Marston, Belfast, and the Gun Club Committee, the Captain took his
observations. After a moment or two of the most profound interest, it
was a great gratification to all to learn that the _Susquehanna_ was on
the right parallel, and only about 15 miles west of the precise spot
where the Projectile had disappeared beneath the waves. The steamer
started at once in the direction indicated, and a minute or two before
one o'clock the Captain said they were "there." No sign of the buoy
could yet be seen in any direction; it had probably been drifted
southward by the Mexican coast current which slowly glides along these
shores from December to April.
"At last!" cried Marston, with a sigh of great relief.
"Shall we commence at once?" asked the Captain.
"Without losing the twenty thousandth part of a second!" answered
Marston; "life or death depends upon our dispatch!"
The _Susquehanna_ again hove to, and this time all possible precautions
were taken to keep her in a state of perfect immobility--an operation
easily accomplished in these pacific latitudes, where cloud and wind and
water are often as motionless as if all life had died out of the world.
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