Their principal occupation was to watch the erection of the mausoleum which they were building for poor Captain Marsilas, whose funeral obsequies had been attended by the entire population of L'Orient.
The sight of this funeral monument was not calculated to raise the spirits of the survivors of the "Alaska."
But when they joined Erik again their hopes revived. His resolution was unshakable, his activity untiring, he was so bent upon overcoming all obstacles, so certain of success, that it was impossible for them to express, or even to preserve, less heroic sentiments.
They had a new proof of the malignity of Tudor Brown, and that he still was pursuing them.
On the 14th of March, Erik saw that the work upon the machinery was almost finished. They only had to adjust the pumps, and that was to be done the next day.
But in the night, between the 14th and 15th, the body of the pump disappeared from the workshop of the Messrs. Gainard, Norris & Co.
It was impossible to find it.
How had it been taken away—who had done it?
After investigation they were unable to discover.
However, it would take ten days more to replace it, and that would make it the 25th of March before the "Alaska" could leave L'Orient.