THE THREE DOCUMENTS.
These pieces of paper, half destroyed by the sea-water, exhibited only
a few words, the traces of handwriting almost entirely effaced. For
several minutes Lord Glenarvan examined them attentively, turned them
about in every way, and exposed them to the light of day, observing
the least traces of writing spared by the sea. Then he looked at his
friends, who were regarding him with anxious eyes.
"There are here," said he, "three distinct documents, probably three
copies of the same missive, translated into three different languages:
one English, another French, and the third German. The few words that
remain leave no doubt on this point."
"But these words have at least a meaning?" said Lady Glenarvan.
"That is difficult to say, my dear Helena. The words traced on these
papers are very imperfect."
"Perhaps they will complete each other," said the major.
"That may be," replied Captain Mangles. "It is not probable that the
water has obliterated these lines in exactly the same places on each,
and by comparing these remains of phrases we shall arrive at some
intelligible meaning."
"We will do so," said Lord Glenarvan; "but let us proceed
systematically. And, first, here is the English document."
It showed the following arrangement of lines and words:
[Illustration]
"That does not mean much," said the major, with an air of
disappointment.
"Whatever it may mean," replied the captain, "it is good English."
"There is no doubt of that," said his lordship. "The words _wreck,
aland, this, and, lost_, are perfect. _Cap_ evidently means _captain_,
referring to the captain of a shipwrecked vessel."
"Let us add," said the captain, "the portions of the words _docu_ and
_ssistance_, the meaning of which is plain."
"Well, something is gained already!" added Lady Helena.
"Unfortunately," replied the major, "entire lines are wanting. How can
we find the name of the lost vessel, or the place of shipwreck?"
"We shall find them," said Lord Edward.
"Very likely," answered the major, who was invariably of the opinion of
every one else; "but how?"
"By comparing one document with another."
"Let us see!" cried Lady Helena.
The second piece of paper, more damaged than the former, exhibited only
isolated words, arranged thus:
[Sidenote: COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY.]
[Illustration]
"This is written in German," said Captain Mangles, when he had cast his
eyes upon it.
"And do you know that language?" asked Glenarvan.
"Perfectly, your lordship."
"Well, tell us what these few words mean."
The captain examined the document closely, and expressed himself as
follows:
"First, the date of the event is determined. _7 Juni_ means June 7th,
and by comparing this figure with the figures '62,' furnished by the
English document, we have the date complete,--June 7th, 1862."
"Very well!" exclaimed Lady Helena. "Go on."
"On the same line," continued the young captain, "I find the word
_Glas_, which, united with the word _gow_ of the first document, gives
_Glasgow_. It is plainly a ship from the port of Glasgow."
"That was my opinion," said the major.
"The second line is missing entirely," continued Captain Mangles; "but
on the third I meet with two important words _zwei_, which means _two_,
and _atrosen_, or rather _matrosen_, which signifies _sailors_ in
German."
"There were a captain and two sailors, then?" said Lady Helena.
"Probably," replied her husband.
"I will confess, your lordship," said the captain, "that the next word,
_graus_, puzzles me. I do not know how to translate it. Perhaps the
third document will enable us to understand it. As to the two last
words, they are easily explained. _Bringt ihnen_ means _bring to them_,
and if we compare these with the English word, which is likewise on the
sixth line of the first document (I mean the word _assistance_), we
shall have the phrase _bring them assistance_."
"Yes, bring them assistance," said Glenarvan. "But where are the
unfortunates? We have not yet a single indication of the place, and the
scene of the catastrophe is absolutely unknown."
"Let us hope that the French document will be more explicit," said Lady
Helena.
"Let us look at it, then," replied Glenarvan; "and, as we all know this
language, our examination will be more easy."
Here is an exact fac-simile of the third document:
[Illustration]
"There are figures!" cried Lady Helena. "Look, gentlemen, look!"
"Let us proceed in order," said Lord Glenarvan, "and start at
the beginning. Permit me to point out one by one these scattered
and incomplete words. I see from the first letters _troi_ _ats_
(_trois-mats_), that it is a brig, the name of which, thanks to the
English and French documents, is entirely preserved: _The Britannia_.
Of the two following words, _gonie_ and _austral_, only the last has an
intelligible meaning."
[Sidenote: THE PUZZLE EXPLAINED.]
"That is an important point," replied Captain Mangles; "the shipwreck
took place in the southern hemisphere."
"That is indefinite," said the major.
"I will continue," resumed Glenarvan. "The word _abor_ is the trace of
the verb _aborder_ (to land). These unfortunates have landed somewhere.
But where? _Contin!_ Is it on a continent? _Cruel!_"
"'Cruel!'" cried Mangles; "that explains the German word _graus,
grausam, cruel_!"
"Go on, go on!" cried Glenarvan, whose interest was greatly excited as
the meaning of these incomplete words was elucidated. "_Indi_! Is it
India, then, where these sailors have been cast? What is the meaning of
the word _ongit_? Ha, longitude! And here is the latitude, 37° 11'. In
short, we have a definite indication."
"But the longitude is wanting," said MacNabb.
"We cannot have everything, my dear major," replied Glenarvan; "and
an exact degree of latitude is something. This French document is
decidedly the most complete of the three. Each of them was evidently
a literal translation of the others, for they all convey the same
information. We must, therefore, unite and translate them into one
language, and seek their most probable meaning, the one that is most
logical and explicit."
"Shall we make this translation in French, English, or German?" asked
the major.
"In English," answered Glenarvan, "since that is our own language."
"Your lordship is right," said Captain Mangles, "besides, it was also
theirs."
"It is agreed, then. I will write this document, uniting these parts of
words and fragments of phrases, leaving the gaps that separate them,
and filling up those the meaning of which is not ambiguous. Then we
will compare them and form an opinion."
Glenarvan at once took a pen, and, in a few moments, presented to his
friends a paper on which were written the following lines:
[Illustration]
At this moment a sailor informed the captain that the Duncan was
entering the Frith of Clyde, and asked his orders.
"What are your lordship's wishes?" said the captain, addressing Lord
Glenarvan.
"Reach Dumbarton as quickly as possible, captain. Then, while Lady
Helena returns to Malcolm Castle, I will go to London and submit this
document to the authorities."
The captain gave his orders in pursuance of this, and the mate executed
them.
"Now, my friends," said Glenarvan, "we will continue our
investigations. We are on the track of a great catastrophe. The lives
of several men depend upon our sagacity. Let us use therefore all our
ingenuity to divine the secret of this enigma."
"We are ready, my dear Edward," replied Lady Helena.
"First of all," continued Glenarvan, "we must consider three distinct
points in this document. First, what is known; second, what can be
conjectured; and third, what is unknown. What do we know? That on the
7th of June, 1862, a brig, the Britannia, of Glasgow, was wrecked;
that two sailors and the captain threw this document into the sea in
latitude 37° 11', and in it ask for assistance."
"Exactly," replied the major.
[Sidenote: "LINE UPON LINE."]
"What can we conjecture?" resumed Glenarvan. "First, that the
shipwreck took place in the South Seas; and now I call your attention
to the word _gonia_. Does it not indicate the name of the country which
they reached?"
"Patagonia!" cried Lady Helena.
"Probably."
"But is Patagonia crossed by the thirty-seventh parallel?" asked the
major.
"That is easily seen," said the captain, taking out a map of South
America. "It is so: Patagonia is bisected by the thirty-seventh
parallel, which crosses Araucania, over the Pampas, north of Patagonia,
and is lost in the Atlantic."
"Well, let us continue our conjectures. The two sailors and the captain
_abor, land_. Where? _Contin_,--the _continent_, you understand; a
continent, not an island. What becomes of them? We have fortunately
two letters, _pr_, which inform us of their fate. These unfortunates,
in short, are _captured_ (pris) or _prisoners_. By whom? The _cruel
Indians_. Are you convinced? Do not the words fit naturally into the
vacant places? Does not the document grow clear to your eyes? Does not
light break in upon your mind?"
Glenarvan spoke with conviction. His looks betokened an absolute
confidence; and his enthusiasm was communicated to his hearers. Like
him they cried, "It is plain! it is plain!"
A moment after Lord Edward resumed, in these terms:
"All these hypotheses, my friends, seem to me extremely plausible. In
my opinion, the catastrophe took place on the shores of Patagonia.
However, I will inquire at Glasgow what was the destination of the
Britannia, and we shall know whether she could have been led to these
regions."
"We do not need to go so far," replied the captain; "I have here the
shipping news of the _Mercantile and Shipping Gazette_, which will give
us definite information."
"Let us see! let us see!" said Lady Glenarvan.
Captain Mangles took a file of papers of the year 1862, and began to
turn over the leaves rapidly. His search was soon ended; as he said, in
a tone of satisfaction,--
"May 30, 1862, Callao, Peru, _Britannia_, Captain Grant, bound for
Glasgow."
"Grant!" exclaimed Lord Glenarvan; "that hardy Scotchman who wished to
found a new Scotland in the waters of the Pacific?"
"Yes," answered the captain, "the very same, who, in 1861, embarked in
the Britannia at Glasgow, and of whom nothing has since been heard."
"Exactly! exactly!" said Glenarvan; "it is indeed he. The Britannia
left Callao the 30th of May, and on the 7th of June, eight days after
her departure, she was lost on the shores of Patagonia. This is the
whole story elucidated from the remains of these words that seemed
undecipherable. You see, my friends, that what we can conjecture is
very important. As to what we do not know, this is reduced to one item,
the missing degree of longitude."
"It is of no account," added Captain Mangles, "since the country is
known; and with the latitude alone, I will undertake to go straight to
the scene of the shipwreck."
"We know all, then?" said Lady Glenarvan.
"All, my dear Helena: and these blanks that the sea has made between
the words of the document, I can as easily fill out as though I were
writing at the dictation of Captain Grant."
Accordingly Lord Glenarvan took the pen again, and wrote, without
hesitation, the following note:
"June 7, 1862.--The brig Britannia of Glasgow was wrecked on the shores
of Patagonia, in the Southern Hemisphere. Directing their course to
land, two sailors and Captain Grant attempted to reach the continent,
where they will be prisoners of the cruel Indians. They have thrown
this document into the sea, at longitude ----, latitude 37° 11'. Bring
them assistance or they are lost."
[Sidenote: A NOBLE RESOLVE.]
"Good! good! my dear Edward!" said Lady Glenarvan; "and if these
unfortunates see their native country again, they will owe this
happiness to you."
"And they shall see it again," replied Glenarvan. "This document is too
explicit, too clear, too certain, for Englishmen to hesitate. What has
been done for Sir John Franklin, and so many others, will also be done
for the shipwrecked of the Britannia."
"But these unfortunates," answered Lady Helena, "have, without doubt,
a family that mourns their loss. Perhaps this poor Captain Grant has a
wife, children----"
[Illustration: Dumbarton Castle.]
"You are right, my dear lady; and I charge myself with informing them
that all hope is not yet lost. And now, my friends, let us go on deck,
for we must be approaching the harbor."
Indeed, the Duncan had forced on steam, and was now skirting the shores
of Bute Island. Rothesay, with its charming little village nestling in
its fertile valley, was left on the starboard, and the vessel entered
the narrow inlets of the frith, passed Greenock, and, at six in the
evening, was anchored at the foot of the basaltic rocks of Dumbarton,
crowned by the celebrated castle.
Here a coach was waiting to take Lady Helena and Major MacNabb back to
Malcolm Castle. Lord Glenarvan, after embracing his young wife, hurried
to take the express train for Glasgow. But before going, he confided an
important message to a more rapid agent, and a few moments after the
electric telegraph conveyed to the _Times_ and _Morning Chronicle_ an
advertisement in the following terms:
"For any information concerning the brig Britannia of Glasgow, Captain
Grant, address Lord Glenarvan, Malcolm Castle, Luss, County of
Dumbarton, Scotland."