"What do you know, then?" asked Glenarvan.
"Simply this, that if Captain Grant is living he is in Australia."
"Where did the shipwreck take place?" inquired the major.
This should have been the first question; but, in the excitement of the moment, Glenarvan, anxious to know where Captain Grant was, had not inquired where the Britannia was lost. From this point the conversation assumed a more definite form, and soon the details of the complicated story appeared clear and exact to the minds of Ayrton's hearers.
To the major's question Ayrton replied,—
"When I was washed from the forecastle, as I was hauling down the jib, the Britannia was driving towards the coast of Australia, which was not two cable-lengths distant. The shipwreck, therefore, took place at that point."
"In latitude thirty-seven?" asked Captain Mangles.
"Thirty-seven," replied Ayrton.
"On the west coast?"
"No. On the east coast."