Junior. He inquired if any news had yet been received of the "Viking,"
and if Bergen mariners were really of the opinion that she had gone
down with all on board. He also inquired if this probable shipwreck,
which had plunged so many homes into mourning, had not led the
maritime authorities to make some search for the missing vessel.

"But where were they to begin?" replied Help, Junior. "They do not
even know where the shipwreck occurred."

"True, my dear Help, and for that very reason they should endeavor to
ascertain."

"But how?"

"Why, though they do not know where the 'Viking' foundered, they
certainly know where the bottle was picked up by the Danish vessel. So
we have one valuable clew which it would be very wrong to ignore."

"Where was it?"

"Listen, my dear Help, and I will tell you."

Sylvius Hogg then apprised his friend of the important information
which had just been received through the Naval Department, and the
full permission given him to utilize it.

The bottle containing Ole Kamp's lottery-ticket had been picked up on
the third of June, about two hundred miles south of Iceland, by the
schooner "Christian," of Elsineur, Captain Mosselman, and the wind was
blowing strong from the south-east at the time.

The captain had immediately examined the contents of the bottle, as it
was certainly his duty to do, inasmuch as he might-have rendered very
effectual aid to the survivors of the "Viking" had he known where
the catastrophe occurred; but the lines scrawled upon the back of the
lottery-ticket gave no clew, so the "Christian" could not direct her
course to the scene of the shipwreck.

This Captain Mosselman was an honest man. Very possibly some less
scrupulous person would have kept the ticket; but he had only one
thought--to transmit the ticket to the person to whom it was addressed
as soon as he entered port. Hulda Hansen, of Dal, that was enough. It
was not necessary to know any more.

But on reaching Copenhagen, Captain Mosselman said to himself that it
would perhaps be better to transmit the document through the hands of
the Danish authorities, instead of sending it straight to the person
for whom it was intended. This would be the safest, as well as
the regular way. He did so, and the Naval Department at Copenhagen
promptly notified the Naval Department at Christiania.

Sylvius Hogg's letter, asking for information in regard to the
"Viking," had already been received, and the deep int