As soon as they were alone, Alexander said to Swinton, “I have now so far fulfilled my promise to my worthy relation that I have seen this descendant of his child; but what am I to do?  An old man like him is not very likely to consent to go to England, and as for his sister Bess, he states that she is equally infirm; the progeny of the rest of the family are scattered about, and he himself knows nothing about them; to collect them would be impossible, and if collected, equally impossible to remove them, for they would not leave.  My old relative fancies, in his mind’s eye, his daughter weeping over her captivity, and longing to be restored to her country and her relations; still retaining European feelings and sympathies, and miserable in her position; her children brought up by her with the same ideas, and some day looking forward to their emancipation from this savage state of existence:  I think if he were here, and saw old Daaka, he would soon divest himself of all these romantic ideas.”

“I think so too; but there is one thing which has struck me very forcibly, Alexander, which is, if this Daaka is the son of your aunt how comes it that he is so old?  When was the Grosvenor lost?”

“In the year 1782.”

“And we are now in 1829.  Your aunt you stated to have been ten or twelve years old at the time of the wreck.  Allowing her to marry at the earliest age, Daaka could not well be more than forty-eight years old; and surely he is more than that.”

“He looks much older, certainly; but who can tell the age of a savage, who has been living a life of constant privation, and who has been so often wounded as his scars show that he has been?  Wounds and hardship will soon make a man look old.”

“That is very true, but still he appears to me to be older than the dates warrant.”

“I think his stating that his sister was named Bess is full corroboration.”

“It is rather circumstantial evidence, Wilmot:  now what do you propose to do?”

“I hardly know; but I wish to be in Daaka’s company some time longer, that I may gain more intelligence; and I think of proposing to him that we should go down to visit the remains of the wreck of his mother, as he terms it.  I should like to see a spot so celebrated for misfortune, and behold the remains of the ill-fated vessel; I should like to have to tell my good old uncle all I can, and he will wish that I should be able to give him every information.”

“Well, I think it is a good plan of yours, and we will propose it to him to-morrow morning.”

“And I should like to visit his sister Bess—­indeed, I must do so.  He says she is much younger than he is.”

“He did, and therefore I think his age does not correspond with our dates, as I observed before,” replied Swinton; “but, as you say, you must see his sister.”

Daaka had sent an old cow as a present to Alexander, which was a very seasonable supply, as the hippopotamus-flesh had all been eaten.  The next morning they proposed that he should accompany them to where the Grosvenor had been wrecked.