e, that when one has built a
boat it is just as easy to build a ship!"

"And in which we might go to the Pomoutous," added Herbert, "just as
easily as we went to Tabor Island."

"I do not say no," replied Pencroft, who had always the casting vote
in maritime questions; "I do not say no, although it is not exactly the
same thing to make a long as a short voyage! If our little craft had
been caught in any heavy gale of wind during the voyage to Tabor Island,
we should have known that land was at no great distance either way; but
twelve hundred miles is a pretty long way, and the nearest land is at
least that distance!"

"Would you not, in that case, Pencroft, attempt the adventure?" asked
the reporter.

"I will attempt anything that is desired, Mr. Spilett," answered the
sailor, "and you know well that I am not a man to flinch!"

"Remember, besides, that we number another sailor amongst us now,"
remarked Neb.

"Who is that?" asked Pencroft.

"Ayrton."

"If he will consent to come," said Pencroft.

"Nonsense!" returned the reporter; "do you think that if Lord
Glenarvan's yacht had appeared at Tabor Island, while he was still
living there, Ayrton would have refused to depart?"

"You forget, my friends," then said Cyrus Harding, "that Ayrton was not
in possession of his reason during the last years of his stay there. But
that is not the question. The point is to know if we may count among
our chances of being rescued, the return of the Scotch vessel. Now,
Lord Glenarvan promised Ayrton that he would return to take him off from
Tabor Island when he considered that his crimes were expiated, and I
believe that he will return."

"Yes," said the reporter, "and I will add that he will return soon, for
it is twelve years since Ayrton was abandoned."

"Well!" answered Pencroft, "I agree with you that the nobleman will
return, and soon too. But where will he touch? At Tabor Island, and not
at Lincoln Island."

"That is the more certain," replied Herbert, "as Lincoln Island is not
even marked on the map."

"Therefore, my friends," said the engineer, "we ought to take the
necessary precautions for making our presence and that of Ayrton on
Lincoln Island known at Tabor Island."

"Certainly," answered the reporter, "and nothing is easier than to place
in the hut, which was Captain Grant's and Ayrton's dwelling, a notice
which Lord Glenarvan and his crew cannot help finding, giving the
position of our island."

"It