John Mangles shook his head. He knew Tom Austin. His first mate would not delay the execution of an order for ten days.
“I must know at all events how they stand,” said Glenarvan. “Better certainty than doubt.”
A quarter of an hour afterward a telegram was sent to the syndicate of shipbrokers in Melbourne. The whole party then repaired to the Victoria Hotel.
At 2 P.M. the following telegraphic reply was received: “LORD GLENARVAN, Eden.
“Twofold Bay.
“The DUNCAN left on the 16th current. Destination unknown. J. ANDREWS, S. B.”
The telegram dropped from Glenarvan’s hands.
There was no doubt now. The good, honest Scotch yacht was now a pirate ship in the hands of Ben Joyce!
So ended this journey across Australia, which had commenced under circumstances so favorable. All trace of Captain Grant and his shipwrecked men seemed to be irrevocably lost. This ill success had cost the loss of a ship’s crew. Lord Glenarvan had been vanquished in the strife; and the courageous searchers, whom the unfriendly elements of the Pampas had been unable to check, had been conquered on the Australian shore by the perversity of man.
END OF BOOK TWO [ [!-- H2 anchor --] ]