Chapter 43 48.The Duncan is back

The old Scotch song rang in the ears of Glenarvan and his friends, and we cannot describe what touched their hearts at that moment.As soon as they stepped on the deck of the Duncan, the bagpiper played his bagpipes and played the traditional folk song of Malcolm House, and the crew welcomed the captain's return with warm cheers.Glenarvan, Menger, Paganel, Robert, and even the major were moved to tears, and everyone embraced each other.First of all, there was some joy, and then there was a burst of carnival.The geographer was simply insane.Jumping up and down, he picked up his big binoculars, which he never left, and used it as a gun, aiming at the two canoes fleeing towards the coast.

But the crew, seeing that Sir and his traveling companions were in rags and blackened faces, evidently suffering, ceased their cheering.Three months ago, the group of brave and courageous travelers who had hoped to find the shipwrecked crew members now all looked like ghosts, as if they were wandering spirits after death and ran into the cruise ship.They had already given up on this cruise ship, and they didn't intend to see them again, but now they are back on this cruise ship again. This is completely accidental, just a coincidence!And how embarrassed and haggard everyone was when they got back to the boat, they really looked like they had narrowly escaped death!

At this time, fatigue and hunger and thirst have long been put aside, and the Jazz must first ask Tom Austin how he came to the sea in this area. How did the Duncan appear off the east coast of New Zealand?Why didn't it fall into the hands of Peng Juesi?How did God guide it to the fugitives? Why?how come?On what grounds?Everyone started with these words and asked Austin questions one after another.The old seaman didn't know who to listen to first.Therefore, he decided to listen to Jazz alone and answer his own questions. "And what about the outlaws?" Sir asked. "How did you deal with the outlaws?"

"Is it an exile?..." Austin replied, his tone of voice seemed to have no understanding of the meaning of the other party's question. "Yeah! Those bastards who hijacked the cruise ship!" "Hacking what pleasure boat? Hijacking your pleasure boat?" "Certainly, Tom! That's the Duncan, and where's that Penn Juss coming on board?" "I don't know what Penn Juss is, I've never seen him," Austin replied. "Never!" exclaimed Sir, more and more bewildered by the old seaman's answer, "then, Tom, tell me why the Duncan comes off the east coast of New Zealand?"

Austen's astonished look has already baffled Sir, Lady Helen, Mary, Paganel, Major, Robert, Menger, Aubinet, Murady, and Wilson. When Ding answered the following sentence in a quiet voice, everyone was even more astonished. "It is on your orders that the Duncan came here." "Follow my orders?" "Yes, sir. I just followed everything you told me in your letter of January 14th." "Show me the letter! Show me the letter!" cried Sir. At this time, ten travelers returning to the ship surrounded Austin and looked at him eagerly.The letter from the Snowy River was delivered to the Duncan!

"What's the matter, let's make it clear, I really thought I was dreaming, did you really get the letter, Tom?" "Yes, received a letter from you." "Received in Melbourne?" "Received in Melbourne, just as we were getting the boat fixed." "What about the letter?" "The letter was not written by you, sir, but it was signed by you." "Exactly. Exactly. Was my letter sent to you by a convict named Penn Juss?" "No, it was a sailor named Ayrton, who was bosun of the Britannia, and it was he who sent me the letter."

"By the way! Ayrton and Penn Juss are all alone. Besides, what did I write in that letter?" "You ordered me to leave Melbourne immediately, and sail the ship out at..." "Isn't it called on the east coast of Australia?" The jazz shouted impatiently, which surprised Austin a little. "Why is it on the east coast of Australia! No! It's on the east coast of New Zealand!" He said, staring with two big eyes. "It's on the east coast of Australia! Tom! It's on the east coast of Australia!" the traveling companions replied in unison.

At this moment, Austin's eyes blurred and he almost passed out.Glenarvan was so sure that he might have borrowed the letter by reading it himself.How could he have made such a big mistake when he was a faithful and uncompromising old sailor?He blushed and panicked. "Don't be alarmed, Tom," said Lady Helene, "it is God's will..." "No, madam, please forgive me! No! Absolutely impossible! I read the letter correctly! Ayrton did not read the letter wrongly." As I see it, it is he, on the contrary, he is leading me to the east coast of Australia!"

"Is it Ayrton going?" cried Sir. "He is going! He insisted to me that there was a mistake in the letter. He insisted that you want me to join you at Tuff Bay!" "Is your letter still there, Tom?" asked the major, who, too, was quite bewildered. "It's still there, Mr. Major, and I'll get it." Austin immediately ran to his room on the forecastle.During the minute he walked away, everyone looked at me and I looked at you, and there was no word for each other, except for the major, who kept his eyes on Paganel, folded his arms on his chest, and said to him: "Huh! Paganel, I have to admit that I made a big mistake!" "Huh?" Paganel was inexplicably bent over, with his head down, wearing big glasses on his forehead, It looks like a long and big question mark.

Austin is back.In his hand was the letter signed by Sir Paganel. "Look here," said Austin. Glenarvan took the letter and read: "Let Tom Austin set sail at once and put the Duncan to the point where the 37th parallel intersects the east coast of New Zealand! . . . " "East coast of New Zealand?!" Paganel exclaimed. He snatched the letter from Sir, rubbed his eyes, and pulled his spectacles up to his nose to see for himself. "New Zealand!" he said, in an indescribable tone, as the letter slipped through his fingers. At this moment, he felt a hand on his shoulder.He raised his head abruptly, and was meeting the major face to face.

"Well, my good Paganel, it's a lucky thing that you didn't send the Duncan to Indochina!" said the major, with dignity. The joke was too much for the poor geographer.All the crew members on the cruise ship burst into laughter, shaking their heads back and forth.Paganel walked up and down like crazy, holding his head in his hands and scratching his hair.What he is doing, he does not know; what he wants to do, he does not know!He ran down the cabin ladder mechanically, strode across the middle deck, staggered, walked straight ahead, aimless, and climbed up the forecastle again.On the foredeck, feet caught on a bundle of cables.Instead of two hands grabbing a rope so quickly, he nearly fell over. Suddenly, there was a bang, which frightened people.The gun on the foredeck fired.The scattered cannonballs made the calm sea boil like a boil, and it turned out that the unfortunate Paganel was grasping the rope on the gun, which was loaded, and the trigger would trigger when the rope moved. It's time for the gunpowder primer.That's why such a bolt from the blue came.The geographer was startled, rolled down the ladder on the forecastle, rolled from the center panel to the marine room, and disappeared. The sound of the cannon started a crowd of shouts.Everyone thought something was wrong.Ten sailors rushed below the middeck and lifted Paganel up on his buttocks, head and feet together.It seems to be broken into two parts. The geographer fell silent. People carried the long body into the cabin and spread it out.That honest Frenchman, for whom all his companions were alarmed.The Major, who becomes a doctor in every critical moment, was at once ready to undress the unfortunate Paganel in order to bind up his wounds.But as soon as he stretched out his hand to untie his clothes, the half-dead man sat up suddenly as if he had been electrocuted. "Don't take it off! Never take it off!" he yelled.Then he pulled his tattered suit back over his thin frame and buttoned it up, with a curious sense of haste. "You have to take off your clothes, Paganel!" said the major. "I said you can't take it off!" "I'm going to check..." "You don't want to check!" "Maybe it's broken..." the major continued. "Have you broken it? It's broken, just ask a carpenter to fix it!" He replied, and stood up with a jump on his long legs. "What do you call a carpenter to fix?" "Repair the pillar of the middle cabin, I broke that pillar when I fell!" Everyone laughed again when they heard this sentence, laughing harder than before.This answer reassured all his friends that the venerable Paganel was not in the least injured in the wrestling scene. "Nevertheless, the geographer is too ashamed, and surprisingly impatient!" thought the major. "Now, Paganel, answer me frankly. I admit that your carelessness is driven by heaven. There is no doubt that if it were not for you, the Duncan would have fallen into the hands of those exiles. If it weren't for you, we must have been captured by the Maori again, but, for God's sake, please tell me, by what kind of strange association, by what kind of accident Are you so insane that you write Australia as New Zealand?" "Ah! Isn't that very simple!" cried Paganel, "that's..." But at this point, he looked from Robert to Marie, and stopped talking for a moment.Then he replied: "What can be done? My dear Corinarvan? I am a madman, I am a fool, I am a fool who will never change, and when I die, I will take off my skin and keep my carelessness." What about the careless face..." "Unless you peel off that skin of yours," added the major. "Skin me off!" cried Paganel suddenly and threateningly. "Do you mean something by that? . . . " "Signs? What do you mean, Paganel?" asked the major, in the same calm tone. The interlude has nothing to do with it. Now, why the Duncan came to the east coast of New Zealand, this dumb fan finally figured it out.The travelers who were rescued as if by a miracle thought of nothing else but going back to their rooms to get comfortable and eat. At this time, Sir, John Menger and other Lady Helen, Mary, Major, Paganel, Robert and others entered the cabin, but left Tom Austin alone.He flashed to ask him again. "And now, my old Tom, please answer me. Don't you find it strange that you have been ordered to come off the coast of New Zealand?" asked Sir. "You don't think it strange, sir, I was surprised at the time, but I have never been in the habit of judging the orders I received, so I obeyed them. How can I not obey them? What if I Wouldn't it be my fault if it went awry on my own accord, not following the letter of the order? Wouldn't you have done the same in my place, Captain?" "Of course, Tom," Mengele replied. "So, what was your guess at that time?" Sir asked again. "What do I suppose, sir? I thought it was always in search of Harry Grant to go where you appointed. I think you must have an arrangement, and another ship to take you to New Zealand." Yes, so I want to wait for you on the east coast of New Zealand. Moreover, when I left Melbourne, I kept a secret about the destination of the cruise ship. Announced to the crew. There was a little disturbance on board at that time, and I was at a loss for a while." "What are you talking about, Tom?" asked Sir. "I mean," replied Austin, "on the second day of sailing, that Ayrton knew where the Duncan was going..." "Ayrton! Is he in the ship?" cried Sir. "Still on board, ser." "Ayrton is still here!" repeated the Sir, looking at Mengele. "God has eyes!" Mengele said. In a moment, and with lightning speed, Ayrton's deed, his long-prepared plot, Glenarvan's wound, Murady's sniped, the caravan in the marshes of the Snowy River The misery that had happened to him, and, in short, all the past deeds of the scoundrel were brought before the eyes of both sir and captain.Now, by an inconceivable turn of events, the exile had fallen into their hands again! "Where is he now?" Jazz asked anxiously. "He was closely watched in a room below the foredeck." "Why is he locked up like this?" "Because he lost his temper as soon as he saw that the ship was sailing to New Zealand, he threatened me to change course, he threatened me, and finally, he encouraged the crew to rebel. I knew he was a dangerous guy, so I couldn't help but take precautions against him measure." "What about after that?" "Since then, he's been staying in his room, and he doesn't want to come out." "Okay, Tom." At this time, Glenarvan and Mengele were invited to the cabin.The breakfast they so desperately needed was prepared, and they sat down at the table in the upper hall without mentioning Ayrton. But as soon as the meal was over, and when the stomachs and spirits were full and refreshed, they were assembled on deck again, and Glenarvan informed them that Ayrton was still on board.At the same time, he said that he was going to call Alton in front of everyone for interrogation. "May I be excused from this trial?" asked Lady Helene. "I tell you frankly, my dear Edward, that I felt sorry for the sight of that scoundrel." "This is a confrontation, Helen, and you Stay, I beg you. I must have Penn Juss see himself face to face again before all the victims." Lady Helen accepted this opinion.Mary sat beside him with her.On either side of Glenarvan were the Major, Paganel, Johann, Menger, Robert, Wilson, Murady, Osney--all the men who had nearly lost their lives in the trap of the exile.All the crew on the cruise ship did not understand the seriousness of this scene, and they all maintained a deep silence. "Bring Ayrton!" said Sir.