e it. In all cases of
shipwreck time alone can determine whether or not any one has survived
the catastrophe. Yes; I still have my doubts, and I shall continue
to have them, even if Hulda and Joel refuse to share them. If the
'Viking' really foundered, how does it happen that no floating
fragments of the wreck have been seen at sea--at least nothing except
the bottle in which poor Ole placed his last message, and with it all
he had left in the world."

Sylvius Hogg had the ticket still in his hand, and again he looked
at it, and turned it over and held it up between him and the waning
light--this scrap of paper upon which poor Ole had based his hopes of
fortune.

But the professor, wishing to examine it still more carefully, rose,
listened again to satisfy himself that the poor girl upstairs was not
calling her mother or brother, and then entered his room.

The ticket proved to be a ticket in the Christiania Schools Lottery--a
very popular lottery in Norway at that time. The capital prize was one
hundred thousand marks; the total value of the other prizes, ninety
thousand marks, and the number of tickets issued, one million, all of
which had been sold.

Ole Kamp's ticket bore the number 9672; but whether this number proved
lucky or unlucky, whether the young sailor had any secret reason for
his confidence in it or not, he would not be present at the drawing,
which was to take place on the fifteenth of July, that is to say, in
twenty-eight days; but it was his last request that Hulda should take
his place on that occasion.

By the light of his candle, Sylvius Hogg carefully reread the
lines written upon the back of the ticket, as if with the hope of
discovering some hidden meaning.

The lines had been written with ink, and it was evident that Ole's
hand had not trembled while tracing them. This showed that the mate
of the 'Viking' retained all his presence of mind at the time of
the shipwreck, and that he was consequently in a condition to take
advantage of any means of escape that might offer, such as a floating
spar or plank, in case the raging waters had not swallowed up
everything when the vessel foundered.

Very often writings of this kind that are recovered from the sea state
the locality in which the catastrophe occurred; but in this neither
the latitude nor longitude were mentioned; nor was there anything
to indicate the nearest land. Hence one must conclude that no one on
board knew where the "Viking"