Jenny had just risen and grasped her husband’s arm.
“We must believe what Frank says,” she declared. “His sight is wonderfully keen. He could not make a mistake.”
“I haven’t made a mistake,” Frank said. “You must all believe me, as Jenny does. I saw a cliff distinctly. It was visible for nearly a minute through a break in the clouds. I couldn’t tell whether it ran to the east or the west; but, island or continent, the land is there!”
How could they be sceptical about what Frank declared so positively?
To what land the coast belonged they might learn when the boat had reached it. Anyhow, her passengers, five men, namely Fritz and Frank and James, Captain Gould and the boatswain John Block, and three women, Jenny, Holly, and Susan, together with the child, would most certainly disembark upon its coast, whatever it might be.
If it offered no resources, if it were uninhabitable, or if the presence of natives made it dangerous, the boat would put to sea again, after revictualing as well as possible.
Captain Gould was immediately informed and, in spite of his weakness and pain, he insisted on being carried to the stern of the boat.
Fritz began to make some comments about the signalled land.
“What is of the most concern to us at the present moment, is its distance from here. Given the height from which it was observed, and also the foggy state of the atmosphere, the distance cannot be more than twelve or fifteen miles.”
Captain Gould made a sign of assent, and the boatswain nodded.