o lose! To-morrow, my dear Procope, to-morrow we will explore it all;
no doubt the life, the heat we want is reserved for us in the heart and
bowels of our own Gallia!"

Whilst the captain was indulging in his expressions of enthusiasm,
Procope was endeavoring to collect his thoughts. Distinctly he
remembered the long promontory which had barred the _Dobryna's_ progress
while coasting the southern confines of the sea, and which had obliged
her to ascend northwards as far as the former latitude of Oran; he
remembered also that at the extremity of the promontory there was a
rocky headland crowned with smoke; and now he was convinced that he was
right in identifying the position, and in believing that the smoke had
given place to an eruption of flame.

When Servadac gave him a chance of speaking, he said, "The more I
consider it, captain, the more I am satisfied that your conjecture is
correct. Beyond a doubt, what we see is the volcano, and to-morrow we
will not fail to visit it."

On returning to the gourbi, they communicated their discovery to Count
Timascheff only, deeming any further publication of it to be premature.
The count at once placed his yacht at their disposal, and expressed his
intention of accompanying them.

"The yacht, I think," said Procope, "had better remain where she is;
the weather is beautifully calm, and the steam-launch will answer our
purpose better; at any rate, it will convey us much closer to shore than
the schooner."

The count replied that the lieutenant was by all means to use his own
discretion, and they all retired for the night.

Like many other modern pleasure-yachts, the _Dobryna_, in addition to
her four-oar, was fitted with a fast-going little steam-launch, its
screw being propelled, on the Oriolle system, by means of a boiler,
small but very effective. Early next morning, this handy little craft
was sufficiently freighted with coal (of which there was still about ten
tons on board the _Dobryna_), and manned by nobody except the captain,
the count, and the lieutenant, left the harbor of the Shelif, much to
the bewilderment of Ben Zoof, who had not yet been admitted into the
secret. The orderly, however, consoled himself with the reflection
that he had been temporarily invested with the full powers of governor
general, an office of which he was not a little proud.

The eighteen miles between the island and the headland were made in
something less than three hours. The volcani