"Perfectly true," said Frederick, laughing.
"Just you wait," cried Fleischmann. "I'll show the Americans a thing or two. German art—"
But Frederick ceased to listen. His only impression after the lapse of some time was, that in the meanwhile Fleischmann had misused the same words, "German art," an endless number of times. Turning to Doctor Wilhelm he said unblushingly:
"Do you remember the way this howling dog, this creature laughing like a lunatic, rose up out of the waves beside our boat?"
Captain Butor and Wendler, who had been laughing mightily over something, now stepped up with brimming eyes, as if they deemed the time had come to be serious for a few moments in the company of the two physicians.
"Did you hear, gentlemen, that Newfoundland fishermen have sighted corpses and floating fragments of the Roland?" said Captain Butor. "Life-preservers from the Roland have also been found. The corpses and fragments are said to have been washed on a sand reef, where a lot of sharks and birds are hovering and swarming. The fishermen say the sharks and birds are what first attracted their attention."
"What is your opinion, Captain?" asked Doctor Wilhelm. "Do you think anybody from the Roland beside ourselves will turn up dead or alive?"
As to living persons, the captain would not commit himself.
"It may be," he said, "that one or two of the life-boats were carried farther south and entered calm waters. Only, in that case, they were not in the course of the large steamers, and they may not have met a vessel for three or four days. Derelicts, fragments, and corpses are usually carried south by the Labrador Current until they meet the Gulf Stream, which carries them to the northeast. If they turn northward with the Gulf Stream at the Azores, they may soon reach the coast of Scotland."
"Then there is a chance," said Frederick, "that our magnificent Captain von Kessel may still find a grave in some Scotch potter's field."