Jack undertook the task of finding a scalpel to save his mother--doubtless a difficult task; for how was he to induce a surgeon of standing to abandon his connexion, his family, and his fame, and to undertake a perilous voyage to the antipodes, for the purpose of performing an operation in a desert, where there were neither newspapers to proclaim it, academicians to discuss it, nor ribbons to reward it?
As for the gentlemen of the dentist and barber school, like Drs.

Sangrado and Fontanarose of Figaro, the remedy was even worse by a great deal than the disease.

But, as we have said, Jack promised to find a surgeon, and the research was so arduous, that he was scarcely ever seen during the day by either Willis or his brother.
To Willis was confided the office of chartering a ship for the homeward voyage, and there were not a few obstacles to overcome in order to accomplish this.

French ship-masters at that time engaged in very little legitimate business; they embarked their capital in privateering, prefering to capture the merchantmen of England to risking their own.

One morning, Willis started as usual in search of a ship, but soon returned to the inn where they had established their head-quarters in a state of bewilderment; he threw himself into a chair, and, before he could utter a word, had to fill his pipe and light it.
"Well," said he, "I am completely and totally flabbergasted." "What about ?" inquired the two brothers.
"You could not guess, for the life of you, what has happened." "Perhaps not, Willis, and would therefore prefer you to tell us at once what it is." "After this," continued Willis, "no one need tell me that there are no miracles now-a-days." "Then you have stumbled upon a miracle, have you, Willis ?" "I should think so.