But, I don't know, I'm sure, how he came to place the ship where he did; for, according to my reckoning, we were several degrees, at the least, to the eastward of the Cape.

However, I suppose he said what he did to prevent our giving way to despair, which, perhaps, we might otherwise have done, eh ?" "Most probably," said Fritz, agreeing with his brother.

"It would be very unlikely for the captain to make so great an error in his calculations as that.

He was esteemed a good navigator, you know, by Herr Grosschnapper." "Well, anyway," continued Eric, without waiting to argue this point with his brother, "we did not reach land that day, which some of the men expected from his words; nor did we the next morning, although, then much to our sorrow, we could see the pinnace no longer near us, she having parted company in the night time and gone to the bottom, as we thought." "You were wrong," interrupted Fritz; "the boat was picked up by an Australian ship, the survivors being taken on to Melbourne.

It was through these that we heard later on of the loss of the _Gustav Barentz_; and naturally, as you had not been rescued at the same time, we all gave you and the captain's party up." "Oh, indeed!" said Eric.