It was Thursday the eleventh, in the small hours of the morning. The Albatross was lumbering along as best she might with her broken engine, and we were nearing the line of 180°. We weren\'t making much way, however, for the speed was low; and we hadn\'t so much reason for hurrying now, for we felt almost hopeless of being in time to prevent the threatened massacre. Our people, we feared, had long since fallen victims to the superstition and bloodthirstiness of the ungrateful savages.

I was asleep in my berth after the fatigues of the day, and was dreaming of my dear little girl in England; when suddenly I felt a clammy cold hand laid upon my own outside the coverlet, [pg 101] and waking with a start, I saw Martin Luther standing pale and white in his blue shirt and trousers before me. I knew at once by his face something fresh had turned up.

"Goodness gracious, boy," I exclaimed, "what on earth\'s the matter now?"

"Captain Braithwaite," he answered with very solemn seriousness, "I\'ve been counting the days over and over again, and I\'m quite sure there\'s a mistake somewhere. We\'ve got a day wrong in our reckoning, I\'m certain. I\'ve counted up each day and night a hundred times over since we left Tanaki in the boat—Jack and I—and I feel confident you\'re twenty-four hours out in your reckoning. Yesterday wasn\'t Wednesday the tenth at all. It was Tuesday the ninth, and we may yet reach Tanaki in time to save them."

"No, no, my boy," I answered, "you\'re wrong; you\'re wrong. Your natural anxiety about your father\'s fate has upset your calculations. To-day\'s the eleventh; yesterday was the [pg 102] tenth. Till we get to the meridian of 180°"—and then, with a start, I broke off suddenly.

"What\'s the matter?" Martin cried, for he saw at once I was faltering and hesitating. "Ah, you see I was right now. You see this morning\'s the tenth, don\'t you?"

In a moment the truth flashed across me with a burst. I saw it all; the only wonder was how on earth I had failed so long to perceive it. I seized the poor lad\'s hand in a fervor of delight, relief and exultation.

"Martin," I cried, overjoyed, "we are both of us right in our own way of reckoning. This morning\'s the eleventh on board the Albatross here, but it\'s the tenth, I don\'t doubt, in your island at Tanaki!"

"What do you mean?" he cried, astonished, and gazing at me as if he thought me rather more than half-mad. "How on earth can it be Thursday here, while it\'s Wednesday at Tanaki?"

"Hold on a bit, youngster," said I, jumping out of my cabin, "till I\'ve consulted the chart [pg 103] and made quite sure about it. Let me see. Here we are. Duke of Cumberland\'s Islands, 179° west. Hooray! Hooray!" I waved the chart round my head in triumph. "Jim, Jim!" I shouted out, rushing up the companion-ladder in my night-shirt as I stood; "here\'s a hope indeed! Here\'s splendid news. Put on all steam at once and we may save them yet. Tanaki\'s the other side of 180!"

Jim looked at me in astonishment.

"Why, what on earth do you mean, Julian?" he asked. "What on earth has that to do with our chance of saving them?"

"Jim," I cried once more, hardly knowing how to contain myself with excitement and reaction; "was there ever such a precious pair of fools in the world before as you and me, my good fellow? It\'s Wednesday morning in Tanaki, man! It\'s Wednesday in Tanaki! Tanaki\'s the other side of 180!"

As I said the words, Jim jumped at me like a wild creature and grasped my hand hard. Then [pg 104] he caught Martin in his arms and hugged him as tight as if he\'d been his own father. After that he threw his cap up in the air and shouted aloud with delight. And when he\'d quite finished all those remarkable performances, he looked hard into my face and burst out laughing.

"Well, upon my soul, Julian," he said, "for a couple of seasoned old Pacific travelers, I do agree with you that a pair of bigger fools and stupider dolts than you and I never sailed the ocean!"

"If it had been our first voyage across now," I said to Jim, feeling thoroughly ashamed of myself for my silly mistake, "there might have been some excuse for us!"

"Or if the boy hadn\'t told us there was a discrepancy in the accounts the very first day he ever came aboard," he added solemnly.

"But as it is," I went on, "such a scholar\'s mate, such a beginner\'s blunder as this is for two seafaring men—why, it\'s absolutely inexcusable!"

[pg 105] "Absolutely inexcusable!" Jim repeated, penitently.

"But if we clap on all steam we may get there yet on Wednesday morning," I continued, consulting my watch.

"By three or four o\'clock on Wednesday morning," Jim echoed, examining the chart once more, and carefully noting the ship\'s position. "Why, it\'s Wednesday now, Julian. We\'ve crossed 180°."

"But what day was yesterday?" Martin asked, all trembling.

"Why, yesterday," I answered, "was Wednesday the tenth, my boy; but to-day is Wednesday the tenth also. It comes twice over at this longitude. We\'ve gained a day; that\'s the long and the short of it. We ought to have known it, my brother and I, who are such old hands at cruising in and out of the islands; but our anxiety and distress made us clean forget it."

"How does that come about?" Martin asked bewildered, his lips white as death.

[pg 106] "Just like this," said I. "Sailing one way, you see, from England, you sail with the sun; and sailing the other way, you sail against it. In one direction you keep gainin............