And now the admiral came square to the point.
"Tell me, Count, where your Seeadler is."
I was in a tight hole. I must strike a blow for my comrades out there on Mopelia. The elements I had to work upon lay in the fact that the diary which had been found mentioned merely that we had put stores aboard at Mopelia and told of the capture of the Manila and said nothing of the fact that we had sunk that ship. Then, also, the truth is rarely believed. I proceeded to skate very near the truth.
"The Seeadler," I replied, "was lost."
"How was it lost?"
"We got on the coral reef at Mopelia. We tried our best to get off, put our stores ashore to lighten the ship. But it was no use."
"What did you do then?"
"We went aboard the Manila."
"The four-masted schooner, Manila?"
"Yes, we captured her and took her along with us."