"
"Then you don't take in account the interests of Brimmer, Markham, and
Keene," said Brace. "Do you suppose they're doing nothing?"
"I don't say they're not; but you're confounding interests with
INSTINCTS. They haven't got the instinct to find this place, and all
that they've done and are doing is blind calculation. Just look at the
facts. As the filibuster who captured the Excelsior of course changed
her name, her rig-out, and her flag, and even got up a false register
for her, she's as good as lost, as far as the world knows, until she
lands at Quinquinambo. Then supposing she's found out, and the whole
story is known--although everything's against such a proposition--the
news has got to go back to San Francisco before the real search will be
begun. As to any clue that might come from Captain Bunker, that's still
more remote. Allowing he crossed the bar and got out of the channel,
he wasn't at the right time for meeting a passing steamer; and the only
coasters are Mexican. If he didn't die of delirium tremens or exposure,
and was really picked up in his senses by some other means, he would
have been back with succor before this, if only to get our evidence to
prove the loss of the vessel.
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