In Search of the Castaways | Page 6

"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