hich to make the passage of the
Mercy. He and Neb, armed with axes, chose two trees near the water,
and began to attack them at the base.

Cyrus Harding and Spilett, seated on the bank, waited till their
companions were ready for their help, whilst Herbert roamed about,
though without going to any distance. All at once, the lad, who had
strolled by the river, came running back, and, pointing up the Mercy,
exclaimed,--

"What is floating there?"

Pencroft stopped working, and seeing an indistinct object moving
through the gloom,--

"A canoe!" cried he.

All approached, and saw to their extreme surprise, a boat floating
down the current.

"Boat ahoy!" shouted the sailor, without thinking that perhaps it
would be best to keep silence.

No reply. The boat still drifted onwards, and it was not more than
twelve feet off, when the sailor exclaimed--

"But it is our own boat! she has broken her moorings, and floated down
the current. I must say she has arrived very opportunely."

"Our boat?" murmured the engineer.

Pencroft was right. It was indeed the canoe, of which the rope had
undoubtedly broken, and which had come alone from the sources of the
Mercy. It was very important to seize it before the rapid current
should have swept it away out of the mouth of the river, but Neb and
Pencroft cleverly managed this by means of a long pole.

The canoe touched the shore. The engineer leapt in first, and found,
on examining the rope, that it had been really worn through by rubbing
against the rocks.

"Well," said the reporter to him, in a low voice, "this is a strange
thing."

"Strange indeed!" returned Cyrus Handing.

Strange or not, it was very fortunate. Herbert, the reporter, Neb, and
Pencroft, embarked in turn. There was no doubt about the rope having
been worn through, but the astonishing part of the affair was, that
the boat should have arrived just at the moment when the settlers were
there to seize it on its way, for a quarter of an hour earlier or
later it would have been lost in the sea.

If they had been living in the time of genii, this incident would have
given them the right to think that the island was haunted by some
supernatural being, who used his power in the service of the
castaways!

A few strokes of the oar brought the settlers to the mouth of the
Mercy. The canoe was hauled up on the beach near the Chimneys, and all
proceeded towards the ladder of Granite House.

But at that moment, Top