~ Nellie Bly Other than wind-tossed rain and a few periods of choppy seas, the Pandora sailed past Cape Mendocino with no trouble. Dee found it amazing how four people squeezed into such small quarters could have so much order and solitary time on their hands. Three hour watches around the clock meant that, other than the ten or fifteen minutes one lingered in handing over their watch to the next person, everyone was either sleeping or working away at private projects during their off-watches. In her own free time, Dee pored over the journal and compared notes from her talks with Peterson to maps and references that indicated the location where the diamonds had been hidden. She could only generalize distances when looking at nautical charts that she came across in the navigation locker. Meanwhile, the steady whir and click of Marion’s laptop from within her little cabin proved that the solitude and fresh sea air was having a significant effect on the advancement of her friend’s novel.
