Note: I have made the following changes to the text:
PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO
5 31 drank drunk
13 22 shores. shores."
13 27 Lady Glenarvan. Lord Glenarvan.
16 29 up ,Halbert." up, Halbert."
25 13 _sang froid_. SANG-FROID.
25 26 maneuvring maneuvering
31 12 unmistakingly unmistakably
34 19 Celedonian Caledonian
36 27 France. France."
40 28 occular ocular
51 38 exceptions exception
52 6 prisoniers, prisonniers,
53 34 reconnoitred reconnoitered
54 38 Corientes Corrientes
56 10 Colts Colt's
63 32 have attempted would have attempted
67 30 Mount Blanc. Mont Blanc.
67 36 Nevados Nevadas
62 38 impassible." impassable."
83 20 returns returned
83 38 Cameans, Camoens,
87 12 Argentile Argentine
96 25 sore of sort of
98 26 had drank had drunk
99 18 Vantana, Ventana,
100 21 drank drunk
102 19 minute's minutes'
103 29 comrades' comrade's
104 21 them. them."
104 24 _rio a ramada_ _rio a ramada_
109 21 time. time."
110 34 wolf wolf;
112 33 never! never!"
113 38 RAMADO, RAMADA,
116 13 drank drunk
116 15 nandou NANDOU
118 30 estancias, ESTANCIAS,
120 28 TOLDERAI, TOLDERIA,
133 28 fugitive fugitives
134 21 tumultous tumultuous
135 21 hilgueros, HILGUEROS,
144 1 thegonie, theogonie,
144 30 Glascow Glasgow
144 36 prisoniers prisonniers
144 39 aplied applied
147 15 sub-species. sub-species."
152 4 aproaching approaching
153 17 mation. mation."
156 36 terra firma. _terra firma_.
159 1 Glenarvan. Glenarvan,
176 40 Mangle's Mangles'
178 16 DEBRIS DEBRIS
180 8 ports port
187 33 Purday-Moore Purdy-Moore
190 5 longtitude longitude
191 37 warning warring
193 10 DENOUEMENT DENOUEMENT
195 19 rectillinear rectilinear
196 31 Pour "Pour
199 20 shipwrecked. shipwrecked
200 33 Britany. Britanny.
202 24 handsbreath. handsbreadth.
205 16 kow know
205 39 37 degrees" 37 degrees."
206 42 Glasglow Glasgow
214 41 ROLE role
218 10 mounteback's mountebank's
219 18 day's days'
222 13 monothremes; monotremes;
223 21 mleancholy melancholy
232 35 Glenarvan, Glenarvan
234 32 able but ible but
243 10 Pomoton?" Pomotou?"
243 37 Britanic Britannic
249 6 McNabb's McNabbs
250 24 midst. mist.
251 40 but "but
253 29 terrestial terrestrial
256 11 his oasis, this oasis,
261 28 continuel continual
268 33 alluvion, alluvium,
271 26 aerial aerial
272 3 wagan, wagon,
272 7 gastralobium, gastrolobium,
272 34 Wimmero." Wimmera."
273 37 _sang _sang-
273 41 wo- woe-
274 40 two "two
280 11 disapepared. disappeared.
281 6 DENOUEMENT DENOUEMENT
281 13 Joye, Joyce,
282 29 It it It is
284 9 sorrrow, sorrow,
284 23 eurus emus
287 35 37 degree 37th degree
288 15 _sang froid_ _sang-froid_
312 29 wretches?" wretches!"
314 24 impassible. impassive.
316 41 fancy. fancy."
326 35 impossisble impossible
327 41 him. him."
335 27 patience. patience."
339 15 1864. 1864."
339 41 Tarankai Taranaki
340 10 Taranak Taranaki
341 15 Taranki Taranaki
347 11 Waikato?" Waikato!"
347 18 buscuit biscuit
348 30 irrefragable irrefragible
348 37 musquito. mosquito.
350 35 Adressing Addressing
352 42 lines of line of
356 41 Tohongo, Tohonga,
357 8 tuers tures
360 24 McNabb's McNabbs'
364 20 orgie orgy
374 5 piron- Piron-
378 36 Ikana-Mani Ika-na-Mani
386 41 soup ,which soup, which
395 10 "moas' "moas"
402 14 exciting excited
418 13 JUIN ,1862 JUIN, 1862
On page 390 I have omitted the following redundant line 40,
which properly begins page 391, as in the original text:
and his wonderful instinct shone out anew in this difficult
In addition, I have made the following changes to the chapter headings
and running heads:
PAGE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO
24 DUNCAN "DUNCAN"
25 DUNCAN "DUNCAN"
27 DUNCAN "DUNCAN"
35 JAQUES JACQUES
37 JAQUES JACQUES
204 BRITANNIA "BRITANNIA"
398 DUNCAN "DUNCAN"
WORKS
of
JULES VERNE
EDITED BY
CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D.
CONTENTS
VOLUME FOUR
PAGE
IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS
SOUTH AMERICA . . . . . . 3
AUSTRALIA . . . . . . . 165
NEW ZEALAND . . . . . . . 305
[page intentionally blank]
ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME FOUR
INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME FOUR
THE three books gathered under the title "In Search of the Castaways"
occupied much of Verne's attention during the three years following 1865.
The characters used in these books were afterwards reintroduced
in "The Mysterious Island," which was in its turn a sequel
to "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." Thus this entire set
of books form a united series upon which Verne worked intermittently
during ten years.
"In Search of the Castaways," which has also been published as
"The Children of Captain Grant" and as "A Voyage Around the World,"
is perhaps most interesting in connection with the last of these titles.
It is our author's first distinctly geographical romance.
By an ingenious device he sets before the rescuers a search
which compels their circumnavigation of the globe around
a certain parallel of the southern hemisphere. Thus they cross
in turn through South America, Australia and New Zealand,
besides visiting minor islands.
The three great regions form the sub-titles of the three
books which compose the story. In each region the rescuers
meet with adventures characteristic of the land.
They encounter Indians in America; bushrangers in Australia;
and Maoris in New Zealand. The passage of the searching party
gives ground, - one is almost tempted to say, excuse, - for a close
and careful description of each country and of its inhabitants,
step by step. Even the lesser incidents of the story are
employed to emphasise the distinctive features of each land.
The explorers are almost frozen on the heights of the Andes,
and almost drowned in the floods of the Patagonian Pampas.
An avalanche sweeps some of them away; a condor carries off a lad.
In Australia they are stopped by jungles and by quagmires;
they hunt kangaroos. In New Zealand they take refuge amid hot
sulphur springs and in a house "tabooed"; they escape by starting
a volcano into eruption.
Here then are fancy and extravagance mixed with truth and information.
Verne has done a vast and useful work in stimulating the interest
not only of Frenchmen but of all civilised nations, with regard
to the lesser known regions of our globe. He has broadened knowledge
and guided study. During the years following 1865 he even, for a time,
deserted his favorite field of labor, fiction, and devoted himself
to a popular semi-scientific book, now superseded by later works,
entitled "The Illustrated Geography of France and her Colonies."
Verne has perhaps had a larger share than any other single individual
in causing the ever-increasing yearly tide of international travel.
And because with mutual knowledge among the nations comes mutual
understanding and appreciation, mutual brotherhood; hence Jules Verne
was one of the first and greatest of those teachers who are now leading
us toward International Peace.
In Search of the Castaways
or
The Children of Captain Grant
South America
CHAPTER I THE SHARK
ON the 26th of July, 1864, a magnificent yacht was steaming
along the North Channel at full speed, with a strong
breeze blowing from the N. E. The Union Jack was flying
at the mizzen-mast, and a blue standard bearing the initials
E. G., embroidered in gold, and surmounted by a ducal coronet,
floated from the topgallant head of the main-mast. The name
of the yacht was the DUNCAN, and the owner was Lord Glenarvan,
one of the sixteen Scotch peers who sit in the Upper House,
and the most distinguished member of the Royal Thames Yacht Club,
so famous throughout the United Kingdom.
Lord Edward Glenarvan was on board with his young wife, Lady Helena,
and one of his cousins, Major McNabbs.
The DUNCAN was newly built, and had been making a trial trip a few
miles outside the Firth of Clyde. She was returning to Glasgow,
and the Isle of Arran already loomed in the distance, when the sailor on
watch caught sight of an enormous fish sporting in the wake of the ship.
Lord Edward, who was immediately apprised of the fact, came up on
the poop a few minutes after with his cousin, and asked John Mangles,
the captain, what sort of an animal he thought it was.
"Well, since your Lordship asks my opinion," said Mangles, "I think
it is a shark, and a fine large one too."
"A shark on these shores!"
"There is nothing at all improbable in that," returned the captain.
"This fish belongs to a species that is found in all latitudes
and in all seas. It is the 'balance-fish,' or hammer-headed shark,
if I am not much mistaken. But if your Lordship has no objections,
and it would give the smallest pleasure to Lady Helena to see
a novelty in the way of fishing, we'll soon haul up the monster
and find out what it really is."
"What do you say, McNabbs? Shall we try to catch it?"
asked Lord Glenarvan.
"If you like; it's all one to me," was his cousin's cool reply.
"The more of those terrible creatures that are killed the better,
at all events," said John Mangles, "so let's seize the chance,
and it will not only give us a little diversion, but be doing
a good action."
"Very well, set to work, then," said Glenarvan.
Lady Helena soon joined her husband on deck, quite charmed at the prospect
of such exciting sport. The sea was splendid, and every movement of
the shark was distinctly visible. In obedience to the captain's orders,
the sailors threw a strong rope over the starboard side of the yacht,
with a big hook at the end of it, concealed in a thick lump of bacon.
The bait took at once, though the shark was full fifty yards distant.
He began to make rapidly for the yacht, beating the waves violently
with his fins, and keeping his tail in a perfectly straight line.
As he got nearer, his great projecting eyes could be seen inflamed
with greed, and his gaping jaws with their quadruple row of teeth.
His head was large, and shaped like a double hammer at the end of
a handle. John Mangles was right. This was evidently a balance-fish -
the most voracious of all the SQUALIDAE species.
The passengers and sailors on the yacht were watching
all the animal's movements with the liveliest interest.
He soon came within reach of the bait, turned over on his back
to make a good dart at it, and in a second bacon and contents
had disappeared. He had hooked himself now, as the tremendous
jerk he gave the cable proved, and the sailors began to haul
in the monster by means of tackle attached to the mainyard.
He struggled desperately, but his captors were prepared
for his violence, and had a long rope ready with a slip knot,
which caught his tail and rendered him powerless at once.
In a few minutes more he was hoisted up over the side of the yacht
and thrown on the deck. A man came forward immediately,
hatchet in hand, and approaching him cautiously, with one powerful
stroke cut off his tail.
This ended the business, for there was no longer any fear of the shark.
But, though the sailors' vengeance was satisfied, their curiosity
was not; they knew the brute had no very delicate appetite,
and the contents of his stomach might be worth investigation.
This is the common practice on all ships when a shark is captured, but
Lady Glenarvan declined to be present at such a disgusting exploration,
and withdrew to the cabin again. The fish was still breathing;
it measured ten feet in length, and weighed more than six hundred pounds.
This was nothing extraordinary, for though the hammer-headed shark
is not classed among the most gigantic of the species, it is always
reckoned among the most formidable.
The huge brute was soon ripped up in a very unceremonious fashion.
The hook had fixed right in the stomach, which was found to be
absolutely empty, and the disappointed sailors were just going to throw
the remains overboard, when the boatswain's attention was attracted
by some large object sticking fast in one of the viscera.
"I say! what's this?" he exclaimed.
"That!" replied one of the sailors, "why, it's a piece of rock
the beast swallowed by way of ballast."
"It's just a bottle, neither more nor less, that the fellow has got
in his inside, and couldn't digest," said another of the crew.
"Hold your tongues, all of you!" said Tom Austin, the mate
of the DUNCAN. "Don't you see the animal has been such
an inveterate tippler that he has not only drunk the wine,
but swallowed the bottle?"
"What!" said Lord Glenarvan. "Do you mean to say it is a bottle
that the shark has got in his stomach."
"Ay, it is a bottle, most certainly," replied the boatswain,
"but not just from the cellar."
"Well, Tom, be careful how you take it out," said Lord Glenarvan,
"for bottles found in the sea often contain precious documents."
"Do you think this does?" said Major McNabbs, incredulously.
"It possibly may, at any rate."
"Oh! I'm not saying it doesn't. There may perhaps be some secret in it,"
returned the Major.
"That's just what we're to see," said his cousin. "Well, Tom."
"Here it is," said the mate, holding up a shapeless lump he had managed
to pull out, though with some difficulty.
"Get the filthy thing washed then, and bring it to the cabin."
Tom obeyed, and in a few minutes brought in the bottle and laid it
on the table, at which Lord Glenarvan and the Major were sitting ready
with the captain, and, of course Lady Helena, for women, they say,
are always a little curious. Everything is an event at sea.
For a moment they all sat silent, gazing at this frail relic,
wondering if it told the tale of sad disaster, or brought some
trifling message from a frolic-loving sailor, who had flung it
into the sea to amuse himself when he had nothing better to do.
However, the only way to know was to examine the bottle,
and Glenarvan set to work without further delay, so carefully
and minutely, that he might have been taken for a coroner
making an inquest.
He commenced by a close inspection of the outside.
The neck was long and slender, and round the thick rim there
was still an end of wire hanging, though eaten away with rust.
The sides were very thick, and strong enough to bear great pressure.
It was evidently of Champagne origin, and the Major said immediately,
"That's one of our Clicquot's bottles."
Nobody contradicted him, as he was supposed to know;
but Lady Helena exclaimed, "What does it matter about the bottle,
if we don't know where it comes from?"
"We shall know that, too, presently, and we may affirm this much already -
it comes from a long way off. Look at those petrifactions all over it,
these different substances almost turned to mineral, we might say,
through the action of the salt water! This waif had been tossing
about in the ocean a long time before the shark swallowed it."
"I quite agree with you," said McNabbs. "I dare say this frail concern
has made a long voyage, protected by this strong covering."
"But I want to know where from?" said Lady Glenarvan.
"Wait a little, dear Helena, wait; we must have patience with bottles;
but if I am not much mistaken, this one will answer all our questions,"
replied her husband, beginning to scrape away the hard substances
round the neck. Soon the cork made its appearance, but much damaged
by the water.
"That's vexing," said Lord Edward, "for if papers are inside,
they'll be in a pretty state!"
"It's to be feared they will," said the Major.
"But it is a lucky thing the shark swallowed them, I must say,"
added Glenarvan, "for the bottle would have sunk to the bottom
before long with such a cork as this."
"That's true enough," replied John Mangles, "and yet it would
have been better to have fished them up in the open sea.
Then we might have found out the road they had come by taking
the exact latitude and longitude, and studying the atmospheric
and submarine currents; but with such a postman as a shark,
that goes against wind and tide, there's no clew whatever
to the starting-point."
"We shall see," said Glenarvan, gently taking out the cork.
A strong odor of salt water pervaded the whole saloon,
and Lady Helena asked impatiently: "Well, what is there?"
"I was right!" exclaimed Glenarvan. "I see papers inside.
But I fear it will be impossible to remove them," he added,
"for they appear to have rotted with the damp, and are sticking
to the sides of the bottle."
"Break it," said the Major.
"I would rather preserve the whole if I could."
"No doubt you would," said Lady Helena; "but the contents
are more valuable than the bottle, and we had better sacrifice
the one than the other."
"If your Lordship would simply break off the neck, I think we
might easily withdraw the papers," suggested John Mangles.
"Try it, Edward, try it," said Lady Helena.
Lord Glenarvan was very unwilling, but he found there
was no alternative; the precious bottle must be broken.
They had to get a hammer before this could be done, though,
for the stony material had acquired the hardness of granite.
A few sharp strokes, however, soon shivered it to fragments,
many of which had pieces of paper sticking to them.
These were carefully removed by Lord Glenarvan, and separated
and spread out on the table before the eager gaze of his
wife and friends.
CHAPTER II THE THREE DOCUMENTS
ALL that could be discovered, however, on these pieces of paper
was a few words here and there, the remainder of the lines being
almost completely obliterated by the action of the water.
Lord Glenarvan examined them attentively for a few minutes,
turning them over on all sides, holding them up to the light,
and trying to decipher the least scrap of writing,
while the others looked on with anxious eyes. At last he said:
"There are three distinct documents here, apparently copies
of the same document in three different languages.
Here is one in English, one in French, and one in German."
"But can you make any sense out of them?" asked Lady Helena.
"That's hard to say, my dear Helena, the words are quite incomplete."
"Perhaps the one may supplement the other," suggested Major McNabbs.
"Very likely they will," said the captain. "It is impossible
that the very same words should have been effaced in each document,
and by putting the scraps together we might gather some intelligible
meaning out of them."
"That's what we will do," rejoined Lord Glenarvan; "but let us
proceed methodically. Here is the English document first."
All that remained of it was the following:
62 _Bri gow
sink stra
aland
skipp Gr
that monit of long
and ssistance
lost_
"There's not much to be made out of that," said the Major,
looking disappointed.
"No, but it is good English anyhow," returned the captain.
"There's no doubt of it," said Glenarvan. "The words SINK, ALAND,
LOST are entire; SKIPP is evidently part of the word SKIPPER, and that's
what they call ship captains often in England. There seems a Mr. Gr.
mentioned, and that most likely is the captain of the shipwrecked vessel."
"Well, come, we have made out a good deal already," said Lady Helena.
"Yes, but unfortunately there are whole lines wanting,"
said the Major, "and we have neither the name of the ship nor
the place where she was shipwrecked."
"We'll get that by and by," said Edward.
"Oh, yes; there is no doubt of it," replied the Major, who always
echoed his neighbor's opinion. "But how?"
"By comparing one document with the other."
"Let us try them," said his wife.
The second piece of paper was even more destroyed than the first;
only a few scattered words remained here and there.
It ran as follows:
7 Juni Glas
zwei atrosen
graus
bringt ihnen
"This is written in German," said John Mangles the moment
he looked at it.
"And you understand that language, don't you?" asked Lord Glenarvan.
"Perfectly."
"Come, then, tell us the meaning of these words."
The captain examined the document carefully, and said:
"Well, here's the date of the occurrence first: 7 Juni means June 7;
and if we put that before the figures 62 we have in the other document,
it gives us the exact date, 7th of June, 1862."
"Capital!" exclaimed Lady Helena. "Go on, John!"
"On the same line," resumed the young captain, "there is
the syllable GLAS and if we add that to the GOW we found
in the English paper, we get the whole word GLASGOW at once.
The documents evidently refer to some ship that sailed out of
the port of Glasgow." "That is my opinion, too," said the Major.
"The second line is completely effaced," continued the Captain;
"but here are two important words on the third. There is ZWEI,
which means TWO, and ATROSEN or MATROSEN, the German for SAILORS."
"Then I suppose it is about a captain and two sailors,"
said Lady Helena.
"It seems so," replied Lord Glenarvan.
"I must confess, your Lordship, that the next word puzzles me.
I can make nothing of it. Perhaps the third document may throw
some light on it. The last two words are plain enough.
BRINGT IHNEN means BRING THEM; and, if you recollect, in the
English paper we had SSISTANCE, so by putting the parts together,
it reads thus, I think: 'BRING THEM ASSISTANCE.'"
"Yes, that must be it," replied Lord Glenarvan. "But where
are the poor fellows? We have not the slightest indication
of the place, meantime, nor of where the catastrophe happened."
"Perhaps the French copy will be more explicit," suggested Lady Helena.
"Here it is, then," said Lord Glenarvan, "and that is in a language
we all know."
The words it contained were these:
troi ats tannia
gonie austral
abor
contin pr cruel indi
jete ongit
et 37 degrees 11" LAT
"There are figures!" exclaimed Lady Helena. "Look!"
"Let us go steadily to work," said Lord Glenarvan, "and begin
at the beginning. I think we can make out from the incomplete
words in the first line that a three-mast vessel is in question,
and there is little doubt about the name; we get that from the fragments
of the other papers; it is the BRITANNIA. As to the next two words,
GONIE and AUSTRAL, it is only AUSTRAL that has any meaning to us."
"But that is a valuable scrap of information," said John Mangles.
"The shipwreck occurred in the southern hemisphere."
"That's a wide world," said the Major.
"Well, we'll go on," resumed Glenarvan. "Here is the word ABOR; that is
clearly the root of the verb ABORDER. The poor men have landed somewhere;
but where? CONTIN - does that mean continent? CRUEL!"
"CRUEL!" interrupted John Mangles. "I see now what GRAUS
is part of in the second document. It is GRAUSAM, the word
in German for CRUEL!"
"Let's go on," said Lord Glenarvan, becoming quite excited over his task,
as the incomplete words began to fill up and develop their meaning.
"INDI, - is it India where they have been shipwrecked?
And what can this word ONGIT be part of? Ah! I see - it is LONGITUDE;
and here is the latitude, 37 degrees 11". That is the precise
indication at last, then!"
"But we haven't the longitude," objected McNabbs.
"But we can't get everything, my dear Major; and it
is something at all events, to have the exact latitude.
The French document is decidedly the most complete of the three;
but it is plain enough that each is the literal translation of
the other, for they all contain exactly the same number of lines.
What we have to do now is to put together all the words we
have found, and translate them into one language, and try
to ascertain their most probable and logical sense."
"Well, what language shall we choose?" asked the Major.
"I think we had better keep to the French, since that was the most
complete document of the three."
"Your Lordship is right," said John Mangles, "and besides,
we're all familiar with the language."
"Very well, then, I'll set to work."
In a few minutes he had written as follows:
7 Juin 1862 trois-mats Britannia Glasgow
sombre gonie austral
a terre deux matelots
capitaine Gr abor
contin pr cruel indi
jete ce document de longitude
et 37 degrees 11" de latitude Portez-leur secours
perdus.
[7th of June, 1862 three-mast BRITANNIA Glasgow]
foundered gonie southern
on the coast two sailors Gr
Captain landed
contin pr cruel indi
thrown this document in longitude
and 37 degrees 11" latitude Bring them assistance
lost
Just at that moment one of the sailors came to inform the captain
that they were about entering the Firth of Clyde, and to ask
what were his orders.
"What are your Lordship's intentions?" said John Mangles,
addressing Lord Glenarvan.
"To get to Dunbarton as quickly as possible, John; and Lady Helena
will return to Malcolm Castle, while I go on to London and lay this
document before the Admiralty."
The sailor received orders accordingly, and went out to deliver
them to the mate.
"Now, friends," said Lord Glenarvan, "let us go on with
our investigations, for we are on the track of a great catastrophe,
and the lives of several human beings depend on our sagacity.
We must give our whole minds to the solution of this enigma."
"First of all, there are three very distinct things to be considered
in this document - the things we know, the things we may conjecture,
the things we do not know."
"What are those we know? We know that on the 7th of June
a three-mast vessel, the BRITANNIA of Glasgow, foundered; that two
sailors and the captain threw this document into the sea in 37
degrees 11" latitude, and they entreat help."
"Exactly so," said the Major.
"What are those now we may conjecture?" continued Glenarvan. "That the
shipwreck occurred in the southern seas; and here I would draw your
attention at once to the incomplete word GONIE. Doesn't the name
of the country strike you even in the mere mention of it?"
"Patagonia!" exclaimed Lady Helena.
"Undoubtedly."
"But is Patagonia crossed by the 37th parallel?" asked the Major.
"That is easily ascertained," said the captain, opening a map of
South America. "Yes, it is; Patagonia just touches the 37th parallel.
It cuts through Araucania, goes along over the Pampas to the north,
and loses itself in the Atlantic."
"Well, let us proceed then with our conjectures. The two sailors
and the captain LAND - land where? CONTIN - on a continent;
on a continent, mark you, not an island. What becomes of them?
There are two letters here providentially which give a clew
to their fate - PR, that must mean prisoners, and CRUEL INDIAN
is evidently the meaning of the next two words. These unfortunate
men are captives in the hands of cruel Indians. Don't you see it?
Don't the words seem to come of themselves, and fill up the blanks?
Isn't the document quite clear now? Isn't the sense self-evident?"
Glenarvan spoke in a tone of absolute conviction, and his
enthusiastic confidence appeared contagious, for the others
all exclaimed, too, "Yes, it is evident, quite evident!"
After an instant, Lord Edward said again, "To my own mind the hypothesis
is so plausible, that I have no doubt whatever the event occurred on
the coast of Patagonia, but still I will have inquiries made in Glasgow,
as to the destination of the BRITANNIA, and we shall know if it is
possible she could have been wrecked on those shores."
"Oh, there's no need to send so far to find out that,"
said John Mangles. "I have the _Mercantile and
Shipping Gazette_ here, and we'll see the name on the list,
and all about it."
"Do look at once, then," said Lord Glenarvan.
The file of papers for the year 1862 was soon brought,
and John began to turn over the leaves rapidly, running down
each page with his eye in search of the name required.
But his quest was not long, for in a few minutes he called out:
"I've got it! 'May 30, 1862, Peru-Callao, with cargo for Glasgow,
the BRITANNIA, Captain Grant.'"
"Grant!" exclaimed Lord Glenarvan. "That is the adventurous
Scotchman that attempted to found a new Scotland on the shores
of the Pacific."
"Yes," rejoined John Mangles, "it is the very man.
He sailed from Glasgow in the BRITANNIA in 1861, and has not
been heard of since."
"There isn't a doubt of it, not a shadow of doubt," repeated
Lord Glenarvan. "It is just that same Captain Grant. The BRITANNIA left
Callao on the 30th of May, and on the 7th of June, a week afterward,
she is lost on the coast of Patagonia. The few broken disjointed
words we find in these documents tell us the whole story.
You see, friends, our conjectures hit the mark very well;
we know all now except one thing, and that is the longitude."
"That is not needed now, we know the country. With the latitude alone,
I would engage to go right to the place where the wreck happened."
"Then have we really all the particulars now?" asked Lady Helena.
"All, dear Helena; I can fill up every one of these blanks
the sea has made in the document as easily as if Captain Grant
were dictating to me."
And he took up the pen, and dashed off the following lines immediately:
"On the 7th of June, 1862, the three-mast vessel, BRITANNIA, of Glasgow,
has sunk on the coast of Patagonia, in the southern hemisphere.
Making for the shore, two sailors and Captain Grant are about
to land on the continent, where they will be taken prisoners
by cruel Indians. They have thrown this document into the sea,
in longitude and latitude 37 degrees 11". Bring them assistance,
or they are lost."
"Capital! capital! dear Edward," said Lady Helena. "If those poor
creatures ever see their native land again, it is you they will have
to thank for it."
"And they will see it again," returned Lord Glenarvan; "the statement
is too explicit, and clear, and certain for England to hesitate
about going to the aid of her three sons cast away on a desert coast.
What she has done for Franklin and so many others, she will do to-day
for these poor shipwrecked fellows of the BRITANNIA."
"Most likely the unfortunate men have families who mourn their loss.
Perhaps this ill-fated Captain Grant had a wife and children,"
suggested Lady Helena.
"Very true, my dear, and I'll not forget to let them know that there
is still hope. But now, friends, we had better go up on deck,
as the boat must be getting near the harbor."
A carriage and post-horses waited there, in readiness
to convey Lady Helena and Major McNabbs to Malcolm Castle,
and Lord Glenarvan bade adieu to his young wife, and jumped
into the express train for Glasgow.
But before starting he confided an important missive to a
swifter agent than himself, and a few minutes afterward it
flashed along the electric wire to London, to appear next day
in the _Times and Morning Chronicle_ in the following words:
"For information respecting the fate of the three-mast
vessel BRITANNIA, of Glasgow, Captain Grant, apply to
Lord Glenarvan, Malcolm Castle, Luss, Dumbartonshire, Scotland."
CHAPTER III THE CAPTAIN'S CHILDREN
LORD GLENARVAN'S fortune was enormous, and he spent it entirely in
doing good. His kindheartedness was even greater than his generosity,
for the one knew no bounds, while the other, of necessity,
had its limits. As Lord of Luss and "laird" of Malcolm, he represented
his county in the House of Lords; but, with his Jacobite ideas,
he did not care much for the favor of the House of Hanover,
and he was looked upon coldly by the State party in England,
because of the tenacity with which he clung to the traditions
of his forefathers, and his energetic resistance to the political
encroachments of Southerners. And yet he was not a man behind
the times, and there was nothing little or narrow-minded about him;
but while always keeping open his ancestral county to progress,
he was a true Scotchman at heart, and it was for the honor of Scotland
that he competed in the yacht races of the Royal Thames Yacht Club.
Edward Glenarvan was thirty-two years of age. He was tall in person,
and had rather stern features; but there was an exceeding sweetness
in his look, and a stamp of Highland poetry about his whole bearing.
He was known to be brave to excess, and full of daring and chivalry -
a Fer-gus of the nineteenth century; but his goodness excelled every
other quality, and he was more charitable than St. Martin himself, for he
would have given the whole of his cloak to any of the poor Highlanders.
He had scarcely been married three months, and his bride
was Miss Helena Tuffnell, the daughter of William Tuffnell,
the great traveler, one of the many victims of geographical
science and of the passion for discovery. Miss Helena did
not belong to a noble family, but she was Scotch, and that
was better than all nobility in the eyes of Lord Glenarvan;
and she was, moreover, a charming, high-souled, religious young woman.
Lord Glenarvan did not forget that his wife was the daughter of a
great traveler, and he thought it likely that she would inherit
her father's predilections. He had the DUNCAN built expressly that
he might take his bride to the most beautiful lands in the world,
and complete their honeymoon by sailing up the Mediterranean,
and through the clustering islands of the Archipelago.
However, Lord Glenarvan had gone now to London. The lives of the
shipwrecked men were at stake, and Lady Helena was too much concerned
herself about them to grudge her husband's temporary absence.
A telegram next day gave hope of his speedy return, but in the evening
a letter apprised her of the difficulties his proposition had met with,
and the morning after brought another, in which he openly expressed
his dissatisfaction with the Admiralty.
Lady Helena began to get anxious as the day wore on.
In the evening, when she was sitting alone in her room, Mr. Halbert,
the house steward, came in and asked if she would see a young
girl and boy that wanted to speak to Lord Glenarvan.
"Some of the country people?" asked Lady Helena.
"No, madame," replied the steward, "I do not know them at all.
They came by rail to Balloch, and walked the rest of the way to Luss."
"Tell them to come up, Halbert."
In a few minutes a girl and boy were shown in. They were evidently
brother and sister, for the resemblance was unmistakable.
The girl was about sixteen years of age; her tired pretty face,
and sorrowful eyes, and resigned but courageous look, as well
as her neat though poor attire, made a favorable impression.
The boy she held by the hand was about twelve, but his face expressed
such determination, that he appeared quite his sister's protector.
The girl seemed too shy to utter a word at first, but Lady Helena quickly
relieved her embarrassment by saying, with an encouraging smile:
"You wish to speak to me, I think?"
"No," replied the boy, in a decided tone; "not to you,
but to Lord Glenarvan."
V. IV Verne
"Excuse him, ma'am," said the girl, with a look at her brother.
"Lord Glenarvan is not at the castle just now," returned Lady Helena;
"but I am his wife, and if I can do anything for you - "
"You are Lady Glenarvan?" interrupted the girl.
"I am."
"The wife of Lord Glenarvan, of Malcolm Castle, that put an announcement
in the TIMES about the shipwreck of the BRITANNIA?"
"Yes, yes," said Lady Helena, eagerly; "and you?"
"I am Miss Grant, ma'am, and this is my brother."
"Miss Grant, Miss Grant!" exclaimed Lady Helena, drawing the young girl
toward her, and taking both her hands and kissing the boy's rosy cheeks.
"What is it you know, ma'am, about the shipwreck? Tell me,
is my father living? Shall we ever see him again? Oh, tell me,"
said the girl, earnestly.
"My dear child," replied Lady Helena. "Heaven forbid that I
should answer you lightly such a question; I would not delude