Bloomsbury saw that further search was all labor lost, but he
respected such heroic grief too highly to give a positive refusal. He
consented to devote the following day, New Year's, to an exploring
expedition as far as Magdalena Bay, making the most diligent inquiries
in all directions.
But New Year's was just as barren of results as any of its predecessors,
and, a little before sunset, Captain Bloomsbury, regardless of further
entreaties and unwilling to risk further delay, gave orders to 'bout
ship and return to San Francisco.
The _Susquehanna_ was slowly turning around in obedience to her wheel,
as if reluctant to abandon forever a search in which humanity at large
was interested, when the look-out man, stationed in the forecastle,
suddenly sang out:
"A buoy to the nor'east, not far from shore!"
All telescopes were instantly turned in the direction indicated. The
buoy, or whatever object it was, could be readily distinguished. It
certainly did look like one of those buoys used to mark out the channel
that ships follow when entering a harbor. But as the vessel slowly
approached it, a small flag, flapping in the dying wind--a strange
feature in a buoy--was seen to surmount its cone, which a nearer
approach showed to be emerging four or five feet from the water.
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