"No, my lord. At that terrible moment I was washed overboard and cast ashore."

"You are not one of the sailors, then, of whom the document makes mention?"

"No; I did not know of the existence of such a document. The captain must have thrown it overboard after I was gone."

"But the captain, the captain?"

"I suppose he was lost, drowned, with the rest of the crew. I thought I was the sole survivor."

"But you said that Captain Grant was living!"


He was a somewhat rough-looking, broad-shouldered man, of about forty-five.