"The boys say it was Columbia day," laughed Ralph.
"I reckon it must have been, when even our misfortunes failed to down us. Suppose Jonsey had doubled up further along, and before we struck the bend? We'd have had to tumble him overboard, and try to get along as cripples. Clifford would have worked like wild men then, and surely overhauled us. I'm satisfied, Ralph."
"I had another letter to-day, Frank," the other said, changing the subject.
Frank shot a swift look at the face of his companion.
"I don't imagine there was any particularly good news in it then, Ralph?" he remarked.
"No. Your Uncle Jim simply writes that when he got to Stockholm it was to find that the parties he was following had taken a steamer for England."
"Perhaps they're on the way home then. When people go to England from the Continent it is usually to get a steamer across. Perhaps you may see the lady you are longing to meet before many suns rise and set," suggested Frank.
His companion sighed heavily; but at the same time an eager light shone in his eyes as he winked rapidly to keep the tears away.
"Oh! I hope so," he said, softly, "I hope so, Frank. Then perhaps some of my dreams may come true. To find a mother would be next door to Heaven to me!"
Frank had to go over the whole story of the race at the dinner table. True, his mother and father as well as Helen had been eye witnesses of the start and conclusion, but that was not everything. He told just how he had managed things to hold out against the coming tragic conclusion which he had foreseen long before it happened.