"And as for Right whales, well, they are far wiser than we have any idea of. Their kingdom is a boundless one. It is the ocean wild and wide, and if they cannot have peace to gather in schools, and enjoy their little parties in the north, why, they are free to come to the Antarctic. And that is just what they have done.
"Well, lads, we shall do something in it, be assured. But we've got to have steam. Strong screw steamers with all appliances to repair damages of every kind; and steam ice-hammers as well. You've thrown in your lot with me, boys, and my name isn't Talbot if I don't help you to make a good thing of it."
"The Antarctic is very far away from England," said Frank thoughtfully.
"There you're right, lad. You are thinking of the expense?"
"Ah! but our company will not bring their ships home to Britain. No, they will cruise from the Antarctic to the very nearest markets--in Australia, for instance. And so it will pay. For should we lose a ship or two, well, the insurance companies must pay that, and they are well able to.
"So that is my scheme, boys, and, on the whole, I don't think it is a bad one. There are so few ways of making fortunes nowadays that when one gets the ball at his foot, he is a fool if he does not hit it as hard as he knows how to."
The voyage to the Kerguelen islands was a very propitious one, and every one on board the sturdy _Flora M'Vayne_ was as happy as the day was long. Vike seemed to have got a new lease of life, and wallowed in the sunshine.
"It is such a change, you know," he told Conal, "and I believe we'll soon be back once more in bonnie Scotland, and won't I tear around the hills just!"
The monkey was less melancholy now, and the cough which troubled him so much while in the ice, appeared to have quite gone.
And old Pen seemed to be almost beside himself with delight. He used to go tearing along the decks, flapping his wings and shrieking as if possessed, and even in his calmer moods he would sometimes leap up suddenly and practise waltzing all alone.
There was a delightful breeze nearly all the time. If not astern it was a beam wind, and so the _Flora_ went ripping through the dark-blue seas, every wave of which sparkled in the sunshine.