The travelers felt all this at first sight. Ayrton's appearance had interested them; and Glenarvan, acting as spokesman for all, pressed him with inquiries. This strange meeting had evidently produced a bewildering effect, and the first questions were, to some extent, without order.
"You are one of the sailors of the Britannia?" asked Glenarvan.
"Yes, my lord; Captain Grant's quartermaster," replied Ayrton.
"No, my lord. At that terrible moment I was washed overboard and cast ashore."
"You are not one of the sailors, then, of whom the document makes mention?"
"No; I did not know of the existence of such a document. The captain must have thrown it overboard after I was gone."
"I suppose he was lost, drowned, with the rest of the crew. I thought I was the sole survivor."
"But you said that Captain Grant was living!"
[Illustration: He was a somewhat rough-looking, broad-shouldered man, of about forty-five.]
[Illustration: "When I was washed from the forecastle, as I was hauling down the jib, the Britannia was driving towards the coast of Australia, which was not two cable-lengths distant."]
"No. I said, 'if the captain is living'----"
"No, my lord. I repeat that I thought he was buried in the waves or dashed upon the rocks. You say that perhaps he is still living."
"What do you know, then?" asked Glenarvan.
"Simply this, that if Captain Grant is living he is in Australia."
"Where did the shipwreck take place?" inquired the major.
This should have been the first question; but, in the excitement of the moment, Glenarvan, anxious to know where Captain Grant was, had not inquired where the Britannia was lost. From this point the conversation assumed a more definite form, and soon the details of the complicated story appeared clear and exact to the minds of Ayrton's hearers.
To the major's question Ayrton replied,--
"When I was washed from the forecastle, as I was hauling down the jib, the Britannia was driving towards the coast of Australia, which was not two cable-lengths distant. The shipwreck, therefore, took place at that point."
"In latitude thirty-seven?" asked Captain Mangles.
"The same! the very same!" cried Glenarvan.
"You see, then, my lord," added Ayrton, "that I was right in saying that, if Captain Grant still lives, you must seek him in Australia."