me to dispute with
us the possession of Lincoln Island!"

"But the bullet," cried Herbert. "That was not imaginary, I suppose!"

"Hang it, no!" exclaimed Pencroft, thinking of his absent tooth.

"Then what conclusion may be drawn?" asked the reporter.

"This," replied the engineer, "that three months or more ago, a
vessel, either voluntarily or not, came here."

"What! then you admit, Cyrus, that she was swallowed up without
leaving any trace?" cried the reporter.

"No, my dear Spilett, but you see that if it is certain that a human
being set foot on the island, it appears no less certain that he has
now left it."

"Then, if I understand you right, captain," said Herbert, "the vessel
has left again?"

"Evidently."

"And we have lost an opportunity to get back to our country?" said
Neb.

"I fear so."

"Very well, since the opportunity is lost, let us go on, it can't be
helped," said Pencroft, who felt home sickness for Granite House.

But just as they were rising, Top was heard loudly barking; and the
dog issued from the wood, holding in his mouth a rag soiled with mud.

Neb seized it. It was a piece of strong cloth!

Top still barked, and by his going and coming, seemed to invite his
master to follow him into the forest.

"Now there's something to explain the bullet!" exclaimed Pencroft.

"A castaway!" replied Herbert.

"Wounded, perhaps!" said Neb.

"Or dead!" added the reporter.

All ran after the dog, among the tall pines on the border of the
forest. Harding and his companions made ready their fire-arms, in case
of an emergency.

They advanced some way into the wood, but to their great
disappointment, they as yet saw no signs of any human being having
passed that way. Shrubs and creepers were uninjured, and they had even
to cut them away with the axe, as they had done in the deepest
recesses of the forest. It was difficult to fancy that any human
creature had ever passed there, but yet Top went backwards and
forwards, not like a dog who searches at random, but like a being
endowed with a mind, who is following up an idea.

In about seven or eight minutes Top stopped in a glade surrounded with
tall trees. The settlers gazed around them, but saw nothing, neither
under the bushes nor among the trees.

"What is the matter, Top?" said Cyrus Harding.

Top barked louder, bounding about at the foot of a gigantic pine. All
at once Pencroft shouted,--

[Illustration: "NOW THERE'S SOMETHING TO E