as
their speed.

As to the traces left by the convicts, a few more were discovered. Some
footprints found near an apparently recently extinguished fire were
attentively examined by the settlers. By measuring them one after the
other, according to their length and breadth, the marks of five men's
feet were easily distinguished. The five convicts had evidently
camped on this spot; but,--and this was the object of so minute an
examination,--a sixth footprint could not be discovered, which in that
case would have been that of Ayrton.

"Ayrton was not with them!" said Herbert.

"No," answered Pencroft, "and if he was not with them, it was because
the wretches had already murdered him! but then these rascals have not a
den to which they may be tracked like tigers!"

"No," replied the reporter, "it is more probable that they wander at
random, and it is their interest to rove about until the time when they
will be masters of the island!"

"The masters of the island!" exclaimed the sailor; "the masters of the
island!..." he repeated, and his voice was choked, as if his throat was
seized in an iron grasp. Then in a calmer tone, "Do you know, Captain
Harding," said he, "what the ball is which I have rammed into my gun?"

"No, Pencroft!"

"It is the ball that went through Herbert's chest, and I promise you it
won't miss its mark!"

But this just retaliation would not bring Ayrton back to life, and from
the examination of the footprints left in the ground, they must, alas!
conclude that all hopes of ever seeing him again must be abandoned.

That evening they encamped fourteen miles from Granite House, and Cyrus
Harding calculated that they could not be more than five miles from
Reptile Point.

And indeed, the next day the extremity of the peninsula was reached, and
the whole length of the forest had been traversed; but there was nothing
to indicate the retreat in which the convicts had taken refuge, nor
that, no less secret, which sheltered the mysterious unknown.

Chapter 12

The next day, the 18th of February, was devoted to the exploration
of all that wooded region forming the shore from Reptile End to Falls
River. The colonists were able to search this forest thoroughly, for, as
it was comprised between the two shores of the Serpentine Peninsula, it
was only from three to four miles in breadth. The trees, both by their
height and their thick foliage, bore witness to the vegetative power of
the soil, more asto