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302 THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON
after, a flag similar to the one on the ship fluttered from our masthead.
If we were filled with extraordinary emotions on seeing a European ship, the English were not less astonished to see a little boat with flowing sails coming toward them. Guns were now fired from the ship and answered from our pinnace, and join ing Fritz in his cajack, we approached nearer.
The captain received us with that frankness and cordiality that always distinguish sailors ; and I went down with him to the cabin, where wine was set out. He told us his name was Littelton.
I related to him as briefly as possible the history of our shipwreck, and of our residence of ten years on this coast. I spoke to him of Emily, and asked him if he had ever heard of Sir Edward Montrose. The captain not only knew him, but said that it-was a part of his instructions to explore these latitudes, where, three years before, the ship Dorcas, which had on board the daughter of Colonel Montrose, was supposed to be wrecked, and to try to discover whether anything concerning the vessel or crew could be ascertained. He told me that a storm lasting four days had thrown him off the course, which he followed for Sydney and New Holland; and thus he had been driven on this |
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