"Pardon me!" she said.
Reinhold did not know what this exclamation meant. At that moment the others reached the top of the rather steep dune.
"Per aspera ad astra," puffed the President.
"I take my hat off to you, Captain," said the General.
"It was great luck," replied Reinhold modestly.
"And we must have luck," exclaimed Else, who had quickly overcome that strange emotion and had now returned to her bubbling good humor.
The little company strode on through the dunes; Reinhold going on ahead again, while Else remained with the other gentlemen.
"It is strange enough," said the General, "that the mishap had to strike us just at this point of the coast. It really seems as if we were being punished for our opposition. Even if my opinion that a naval station can be of no use here is not shaken, yet, now that we have almost suffered shipwreck here ourselves, a harbor appears to me——"
"A consummation devoutly to be wished!" exclaimed the President. "Heaven knows! And when I think of the severe cold which I shall take from this night's promenade in the abominably wet sand, and that, instead of this, I might now be sitting in a comfortable coupé and tonight be sleeping in my bed, then I repent every word I have spoken against the railroad, about which I have put myself at odds with all our magnates—and not the least with Count Golm, whose friendship would just now be very opportune for us."