nes.

They were in different attitudes too. Some standing erect, apparently
carrying long lance-like weapons over their shoulders; others similarly
armed, in stooping positions; while not a few appeared to be actively
engaged, handling huge pickaxes, with which they repeatedly struck
downwards, as if excavating the soil!

It is true that their manoeuvres were seen only indistinctly: and it was
not possible for the Catamarans to come to any certain understanding, as
to what sort of work was going on upon the island.

It was still very doubtful whether what they saw was in reality an
island, or that the figures upon it were those of human beings.
Snowball believed them to be so, and emphatically asserted his belief;
but Ben was slightly incredulous and undecided, notwithstanding that he
had several times "shivered his timbers" in confirmation of the fact.

It was not the possibility of the existence of an island that the sailor
disputed. That was possible and probable enough. At the time of which
we speak, new islands were constantly turning up in the ocean, where no
land was supposed to exist; and even at the present hour, when one might
suppose that every inch of the sea has been sailed over, the discovery
of rocks, shoals, and even unknown islands, is far from unfrequent.

It was not the island, therefore, that now puzzled the
ex-man-o'-war's-man, but the number of people appearing upon it.

Had there been only a score, or a score and a half, he could have
explained the circumstance of its being inhabited; though the
explanation would not have been productive of pleasure either to himself
or his companions. In that case he would have believed the moving forms
to be the shipwrecked crew of the _Pandora_ who on this ocean islet had
found a temporary resting-place; while the pickaxes, which were being
freely employed, would have indicated the sinking of wells in search
after fresh water.

The number of people on the island, however, with other circumstances
observed, at once contradicted the idea that it could be the crew of the
shipwrecked slaver; and the certainty that it was _not_ these ruffians
whom they saw emboldened the Catamarans in their approach.

In spite of appearances, still was the sailor disposed to doubt the
existence of an island; or, at least, that the forms moving to and fro
over its surface were those of human beings.

Nor could he be cured of his incredulity until the _Catamaran_,
approa