"Two days afterwards--that is to say on the fifth day after the
wreck--Ephraim Quendale and the Danish sailor left Orkney."
Here Andrew Drever put his hand in his breast pocket and drew out a
paper.
"I have here," he said, "a letter that I got yesterday from widow
Ericson. It is a letter addressed to her husband, Sandy Ericson,
and it was written by Ephraim Quendale on the eve of his departure
from Kirkwall to Copenhagen. I will read it:
"'Pilot Ericson--
"'I have been fortunate enough to find a ship in this port bound
for my own land. We sail this morning for Copenhagen, and I shall
not be able to see you to thank you personally for what you have
done for me in my hour of misfortune. But I shall be back again in
your island, please God, in a few weeks' time. I beg that you will
do me the goodness to have my beloved wife's name, Thora Quendale,
inscribed on the tombstone, and also that you will take charge of
all wreckage that may be gathered from the remains of my poor ship.
I grieve sorely that you were unable to find the body of the other
child; for I still have my doubts, notwithstanding that the woman
Kinlay was so positive that the child we buried was not her own. It
was sad that the little head was so disfigured. The eyes would have
proved all to me.
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