LAND AHOY!
JANUARY 27 continued.--Curtis, no doubt, was right. The discharge from
the mouth of the Amazon is enormously large, but we had probably
drifted into the only spot in the Atlantic where we could find fresh
water so far from land. Yet land undoubtedly was there, and the breeze
was carrying us onward slowly but surely to our deliverance.
Miss Herbey's voice was heard pouring out fervent praise to Heaven, and
we were all glad to unite our thanksgivings with hers. Then the whole
of us (with the exception of Andre and his father, who remained by
themselves together at the stern) clustered in a group, and kept our
expectant gaze upon the horizon.
We had not long to wait. Before an hour had passed, Curtis leaped in
ecstasy and raised the joyous shout of "Land ahoy!"
. . . . .
My journal has come to a close.
I have only to relate, as briefly as possible, the circumstances that
finally brought us to our destination.
A few hours after we first sighted land the raft was off Cape Magoari,
on the island of Marajo, and was observed by some fishermen, who, with
kind-hearted alacrity picked us up and tended us most carefully. They
conveyed us to Para, where we became the objects of unbounded sympathy.
The raft was brought to land in latitude 0 deg. 12' north, so that
since we abandoned the Chancellor we had drifted at least fifteen
degrees to the southwest. Except for the influence of the Gulf Stream
we must have been carried far, far to the south, and in that case we
should never have reached the mouth of the Amazon, and must inevitably
have been lost.
Of the thirty-two souls--nine passengers and twenty-three seamen--who
left Charleston on board the ship, only five passengers and six seamen
remain. Eleven of us alone survive.
An official account of our rescue was drawn up by the Brazilian
authorities. Those who signed were Miss Herbey, J. R. Kazallon, M.
Letourneur, Andre Letourneur, Mr. Falsten, the boatswain, Dowlas,
Burke, Flaypole, Sandon, and last, though not least,
"Robert Curtis, Captain."
At Para we soon found facilities for continuing our homeward route. A
vessel took us to Cayenne, where we secured a passage on board one of
the steamers of the French Transatlantic Aspinwall line, the Ville de
St. Nazaire, which conveyed us to Europe.
After all the dangers and privations which we have undergone together,
it is scarcely necessary to say that there has arisen between the
surviving passengers of the Chancellor a bond of friendship too
indissoluble, I believe, for either time or circumstance to destroy;
Curtis must ever remain the honored and valued friend of those whose
welfare he consulted so faithfully in their misfortunes; his conduct
was beyond all praise.
When we were fairly on our homeward way, Miss Herbey by chance
intimated to us her intention of retiring from the world and devoting
the remainder of her life to the care of the sick and suffering.
"Then why not come and look after my son?" said M. Letourneur, adding,
"he is an invalid, and he requires, as he deserves, the best of
nursing."
Miss Herbey, after some deliberation, consented to become a member of
their family, and finds in M. Letourneur a father, and in Andre a
brother. A brother, I say; but may we not hope that she may be united
by a dearer and a closer tie, and that the noble-hearted girl may
experience the happiness that she so richly deserves?
End of Project Gutenberg's The Survivors of the Chancellor, by Jules Verne