aptain Len Guy was a truth, and that he and
the captain of the _Jane_ (also a reality) were connected with each
other by this ocean waif from the authentic expedition of Arthur
Pym. My last doubts were buried in the depths of the ocean with the
body of Patterson.

And now, what was Captain Len Guy going to do? There was not a
shadow of doubt on that point. He would take the _Halbrane_ to Tsalal
Island, as marked upon Patterson's note-book. His lieutenant,
James West, would go whithersoever he was ordered to go; his crew
would not hesitate to follow him, and would not be stopped by any
fear of passing the limits assigned to human power, for the soul of
their captain and the strength of their lieutenant would be in them.

This, then, was the reason why Captain Len Guy refused to take
passengers on board his ship, and why he had told me that his routes
never were certain; he was always hoping that an opportunity for
venturing into the sea of ice might arise. Who could tell indeed,
whether he would not have sailed for the south at once without
putting in at Tristan d'Acunha, if he had not wanted water? After
what I had said before I went on board the _Halbrane_, I should have
had no right to insist on his proceeding to the island for the sole
purpose of putting me ashore. But a supply of water was
indispensable, and besides, it might be possible there to put the
schooner in a condition to contend with the icebergs and gain the
open sea--since open it was beyond the eighty-second parallel---in
fact to attempt what Lieutenant Wilkes of the American Navy was then
attempting.

The navigators knew at this period, that from the middle of November
to the beginning of March was the limit during which some success
might be looked for. The temperature is more bearable then, storms
are less frequent, the icebergs break loose from the mass, the ice
wall has holes in it, and perpetual day reigns in that distant
region.

Tristan d'Acunha lies to the south of the zone of the regular
south-west winds. Its climate is mild and moist. The prevailing
winds are west and north-west, and, during the winter--August and
September--south. The island was inhabited, from 1811, by American
whale fishers. After them, English soldiers were installed there to
watch the St. Helena seas, and these remained until after the death
of Napoleon, in 1821. Several years later the group of islands
populated by Americans and Dutchmen from the Cape acknowledged