To the Indies by C. S. Forester

channels are narrower, and more dangerous. The Mouths of the Dragon, do you think?”
     
    They both smiled as they remembered their conversation of yesterday.
     
    “A very appropriate name, Your Excellency,” said Rich.
     
    “I am not justified in risking the passage,” announced the Admiral. “I intend heading westward along this chain of islands until we find an easier one.”
     
    “It is not for me to discuss questions of navigation with Your Excellency,” said Rich in perfect sincerity; the Admiral was the best practical seaman the world could show.
     
    Orders were bellowed back and forth from the ship to the caravels; men set to work at the capstan while others loosened the sails.
     
    “It is better if we head westward in any case,” went on the Admiral, turning back to Rich from the business of getting the squadron under way. “It cannot be far to the west of here that the Earthly Paradise is to be found. I am convinced of it — the air blows fresher and purer with every league.”
     
    “I had not noticed it, Your Excellency,” said Rich boldly.
     
    “You are insensitive, and you have not had my experience of this climate. And besides, you were present when Alamo discovered bitumen in the island, weren’t you? He told me that there was obviously some undiscovered central source of bitumen in Trinidad. The analogy with the Dead Sea is very close. The Euphrates — only across the desert from the Dead Sea — was one of the four rivers of Eden, and not even the most learned fathers of the Church have been able to identify the other three. They have remained unknown for as long as all our knowledge was derived from the westward. Now we are approaching from the east, and shall solve the mystery.”
     
    “But between us and the Euphrates must lie all India, and the Spice Islands, and the empire of the Great Khan, Your Excellency,” protested Rich, bewildered.
     
    “Undoubtedly they must lie to the northward,” admitted the Admiral. “It would be hard to reconcile the theory with that of a perfectly spherical earth. But remember what I suggested to you before, and assume that in this quarter of the world the sphere is prolonged into a pear-shaped extension. That would then allow room enough to the northward for Asia, and at the same time account for the balminess of this air, and for the fierce ocean currents here — probably, when our knowledge is more advanced, for the existence of sources of bitumen on either side of Eden, and for the steep-sided shape of those islands there.”
     
    “I see, Your Excellency,” said Rich.
     
    The theory was a difficult one, but no more difficult than that of an earth which was not flat, nor than the postulate of the existence of antipodes, and the Admiral and the Portuguese had between them established these firmly enough. Rich began to feel a new excitement at the thought of fresh discoveries and began restlessly to pace the deck, exchanging a courteous formal bow with García as he did so. After García’s deeds of yesterday Rich wondered what men of that stamp would be guilty of in the Earthly Paradise, and at the same moment he found himself wondering heretically whether perhaps the Earthly Paradise had not already been discovered, and whether those laughing hospitable folk who entertained them were not dwellers in it, pagans though they were. The thought struck him with sadness, and he turned again to look at the land.
     
    They left the islands of the Dragon’s Mouths to starboard, and crept slowly before the wind on a westerly course. The northwestern corner of Trinidad, which they were leaving behind them, had been steeper and loftier than the central part where they had landed yesterday, and this chain of islands appeared to be a continuation of the ridge. The last island of the chain in sight was not quite so bold in outline, but as they drew up to it Rich could see that it was steep enough, all the same, and as wooded and green as the others.