In Search of the Castaways | Page 9

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