At length, when the time drew nigh for the captain's bulletin to appear, the mate offered Hilbert three pounds for his ticket, and Hilbert went and asked his father's advice about accepting this offer. His father hesitated for some time, but finally advised him not to sell his ticket at all. Hilbert was satisfied with this advice, for he now began to be quite sure that he should get the prize.
At length, about fifteen minutes after the party had come up from luncheon, and were all assembled around the paddle-box settee, a gentleman came up one of stairways with a slip of paper in his hands, and, advancing to the group, he attempted to still the noise they were making, by saying,—
"Order, gentlemen, order! I've got the bulletin."
Every body's attention was arrested by these words, and all began to call out "Order!" and "Silence!" until at length something like quiet was restored. The persons assembled were all very much interested in learning the result; for, in addition to the prize of the lottery, there were a great many bets, some of them quite large, pending, all of which were to be decided by the bulletin.
When, at length, the gentleman found that he could be heard, he began to read in a very deliberate voice,—
"Latitude forty-eight, thirty-one."
"Never mind the latitude," exclaimed the company. "The distance. Let's have the distance."
"Longitude," continued the reader, "ten, fourteen."
"Nonsense!" said the company. "What's the distance?"
"Distance," continued the reader, in the same tone, "two hundred and sixty-six."