Since his wife had become Mrs. Frisbone, and they had crossed the ocean, she had been doing her best to improve the grammar and pronunciation of the Prince; and she had succeeded wonderfully well, considering the hard subject she had to deal with. He talked tolerably well under ordinary circumstances; but when he was dealing with a great question, or became very much excited, it was observable that he relapsed into nearly all his old barbarisms of speech. “The mate of the Castle William wishes the steamer to tow the wreck into port,” added O’Hara. “Into port!” exclaimed the Prince. “He does not say what port; but the ship was bound to Portsmouth, England.” “Where is that?” asked the Prince, whose geography was sometimes at fault. “It is close by Southampton.” “That’s not the nearest port?” “By no means. We are not more than three hundred nautical miles from Lisbon; and about the same from Cadiz.” “I expect, with those diseases on board, that the Spaniards, the Portuguese, or even the English at Gibraltar, would keep the people on the wreck in quarantine for about forty days; and the chances are that most of them would never see England again,” said Mr. Rimmer. “How far is it to Southampton?” asked the Prince. O’Hara went to the chart-room, measured off the distance, and returned to the pilot-house. “I make it about twelve hundred miles,” he said, as he joined the circle. “I don’t believe in taking this steamer into a French or Spanish port,” added the Prince. “I think that as much as one-half of her belongs to the academy squadron, as salvage; and a port in England is the best place to have the business properly fixed up.” “The mate of the Castle William says she has a valuable cargo in her hold; and I suppose we shall be entitled to salvage in her,” suggested the captain. “Of course you will; and I don’t think Mr. Lowington will lose any thing if we should take the wreck to--that place you mentioned.” “Portsmouth.” No one objected to this business view of the situation; and it was in council agreed, that it would be expedient to tow the wreck to Portsmouth in preference to any port on the Spanish peninsula. “I am confident that if Mr. Lowington or Mr. Fluxion were here, he would send the steamer to England with the wreck,” said Mr. Shakings. “But I desire to do all I can to find the consorts before we do any thing,” interposed O’Hara. “When that is done, I am willing to act on my own responsibility, with your advice.” “There is no let-up in the fog,” added Mr. Rimmer, as he took a long look on all sides of the steamer.