In any case, even if these deductions were not correct in every point, they had obtained sufficient information to entitle them to demand a judicial investigation.

Erik and his friends therefore left the Red Anchor full of hope that they would soon obtain some favorable intelligence.

The next day Mr. Bredejord was introduced by the Swedish consul to the chief of police of New York, and he made him acquainted with the facts which had become known to him.  At the same time he entered into conversation with the officers of the insurance company who had refused to pay the claims due on the “Cynthia,” and read the old documents relative to this matter, which had lain undisturbed so many years.  But the examination of these papers did not afford him any important intelligence.  The matter had been decided upon technical points, relating to an excess of insurance far above the value of the vessel and cargo.  Neither side had been able to produce any person who had been a witness of the shipwreck.  The owners of the “Cynthia” had not been able to prove their good faith, or to explain how the shipwreck had taken place, and the Court had decided in favor of their adversaries.  Their defense had been weak, and their opponents had triumphed.

The insurance company, however, had been compelled to pay several claims on the lives of the passengers to their heirs.  But, in all these law proceedings, there was no trace of any infant nine months old.

These examinations had occupied several days.  Finally, the chief of police informed Mr. Bredejord that he had been unable to obtain any intelligence about the matter.  Nobody in New York knew any detective who answered to Mr. Bowles’ description.  Nobody could tell who the individual was who was interested in the departure of Patrick O’Donoghan.  As for this sailor, he did not appear to have set his foot in the United States for at least four years.  All they could do was to keep the address of the place where he was born, which might prove useful some time.  But the chief of police told Mr. Bredejord, without any dissimulation, that the affair had happened so long ago—­now nearly twenty years—­that even if Patrick O’Donoghan ever returned to New York, it was at least doubtful if the authorities would be willing to investigate the matter.

At the moment when Erik believed that he was about to obtain a solution of the mystery which clouded his life, all their investigations came to a sudden end, and without producing the slightest result.  The only thing that remained to be done was to pass through Ireland as they returned to Sweden, to see if perchance Patrick O’Donoghan had returned there to pass the remainder of his days planting cabbages.

Dr. Schwaryencrona and his friends, after taking leave of Mr. and Mrs. Bowles, resolved to pursue this route.  The steamers between New York and Liverpool touch at Cork, and this was only a few miles from Innishannon, the place where Patrick was born.  There they learned that Patrick O’Donoghan had never returned to his native place since he left it at the age of twelve years, and that they had never heard from him.