u, it is right that you should
know my history. I will tell it you."

These simple words profoundly impressed Cyrus Harding and his
companions.

The engineer rose.

"We ask you nothing, my friend," said he, "it is your right to be
silent."

"It is my duty to speak."

"Sit down, then."

"No, I will stand."

"We are ready to hear you," replied Harding.

The stranger remained standing in a corner of the room, a little in
the shade. He was bareheaded, his arms folded across his chest, and it
was in this posture that in a hoarse voice, speaking like some one who
obliges himself to speak, he gave the following recital, which his
auditors did not once interrupt---

"On the 20th of December, 1854, a steam-yacht, belonging to a Scotch
nobleman, Lord Glenarvan, anchored off Cape Bermouilli, on the western
coast of Australia, in the thirty-seventh parallel. On board this
yacht were Lord Glenarvan and his wife, a major in the English army, a
French geographer, a young girl, and a young boy. These two last were
the children of Captain Grant, whose ship, the _Britannia_, had been
lost, crew and cargo, a year before. The _Duncan_ was commanded by
Captain John Mangles, and manned by a crew of fifteen men.

"This is the reason the yacht at this time lay off the coast of
Australia. Six months before, a bottle, enclosing a document written
in English, German, and French, had been found in the Irish sea, and
picked up by the _Duncan_. This document stated in substance that
there still existed three survivors from the wreck of the _Britannia_,
that these survivors were Captain Grant and two of his men, and that
they had found refuge on some land, of which the document gave the
latitude, but of which the longitude, effaced by the sea, was no
longer legible.

[Illustration: THE STRANGER'S STORY]

"This latitude was 37 deg. 11' south, therefore, the longitude being
unknown, if they followed the thirty-seventh parallel over continents
and seas, they would be certain to reach the spot inhabited by Captain
Grant and his two companions. The English Admiralty having hesitated
to undertake this search, Lord Glenarvan resolved to attempt
everything to find the captain. He communicated with Mary and Robert
Grant, who joined him. The _Duncan_ yacht was equipped for the distant
voyage, in which the nobleman's family and the captain's children
wished to take part; and the _Duncan_, leaving Glasgow, proceeded
towards the Atlantic, passed