The letter from the Naval Department added that these shipwrecked men had suffered so much that they were still in a very weak condition, and for this reason Sylvius Hogg had decided not to say anything to Hulda about her lover’s return.  In his response he had also requested the most profound secrecy in regard to this return—­and in compliance with this request the facts had been carefully kept from the public.

The fact that the “Telegraph” had found no traces nor survivors of the “Viking” can also be easily explained.

During a violent tempest the vessel—­which had become partially disabled—­being obliged to scud along before the wind in a north-westerly direction, finally found herself about two hundred miles from the southern coast of Iceland.  During the nights of the third and fourth of May the worst nights of the gale—­it collided with one of those enormous icebergs that drift down from the shores of Greenland.  The shock was terrible, so terrible, indeed, that the “Viking” went to pieces five minutes afterward.

It was then that Ole hastily penned his farewell message to his betrothed, and after inclosing it in a bottle, cast it into the sea.

Most of the “Viking’s” crew, including the captain, perished at the time of the catastrophe, but Ole Kamp and four of his comrades succeeded in leaping upon the iceberg, just as the vessel went down; but their death would have been none the less certain if the terrible gale had not driven the mass of ice in a north-westerly direction.  Two days afterward, exhausted and nearly dead with hunger, these survivors of the catastrophe were cast upon the southern coast of Greenland—­a barren and deserted region—­but where they nevertheless managed to keep themselves alive through the mercy of God.

If help had not reached them in a few days, it would have been all over with them, however; for they had not strength to reach the fisheries, or the Danish settlements on the other coast.

Fortunately the brig “Genius,” which had been driven out of her course by the tempest, happened to pass.  The shipwrecked men made signals to her.  These signals were seen, and the men were saved.

The “Genius,” delayed by head-winds, was a long time in making the comparatively short voyage between Greenland and Norway, and did not reach Christiansand until the 12th of July, nor Christiania until the morning of the 15th.

That very morning Sylvius Hogg went aboard the vessel.  There he found Ole, who was still very weak, and told him all that had taken place since the arrival of his last letter, written from Saint-Pierre-Miquelon, after which he took the young sailor home with him, though not without having requested the crew of the “Genius” to keep the secret a few hours longer.  The reader knows the rest.

It was then decided that Ole Kamp should attend the drawing of the lottery.  But would he be strong enough to do it?