"All that is true, my lord," replied Tom Austin; "nevertheless our search has not succeeded."
"It is discouraging as well as annoying," said Glenarvan.
"Annoying if you will," replied MacNabb, in a calm tone, "but not discouraging. Precisely because we thus have a definite item, we must thoroughly exhaust all its instructions."
"What do you mean?" inquired Glenarvan. "What do you think ought to be done?"
"A very simple and reasonable thing, my dear Edward. Let us turn our faces towards the east, when we are on board the Duncan, and follow the thirty-seventh parallel even around to our starting-point, if necessary."
"Do you think, my dear major, that I have not thought of this?" replied Glenarvan. "Indeed I have, a hundred times. But what chance have we of succeeding? Is not leaving the American continent departing from the place indicated by Captain Grant himself, from Patagonia, so clearly named in the document?"
"Do you wish to begin your search in the Pampas again," replied the major, "when you are sure that the shipwreck of the Britannia did not take place on the Pacific or Atlantic coast?"
Glenarvan did not answer.
"And however feeble the chance of finding Captain Grant by following this latitude may be, still ought we not to attempt it?"
"I do not deny it," replied Glenarvan.