, but no
doubt he consoled himself by the prospect of selling his goods at
twenty-five per cent above their value.

One thing was certain: Captain Len Guy had no intention of coming
ashore. This was the more singular, inasmuch as he could not be
unaware that the _Jane_ had put in at Tristan d'Acunha before
proceeding to the southern seas. Surely he might be expected to put
himself in communication with the last European who had shaken hands
with his brother!

Nevertheless, Captain Len Guy remained persistently on board his
ship, without even going on deck; and, looking through the glass
skylight of his cabin, I saw him perpetually stooping over the
table, which was covered with open books and out-spread charts. No
doubt the charts were those of the austral latitudes, and the books
were narratives of the precursors of the _Jane_ in those mysterious
regions of the south.

On the table lay also a volume which had been read and re-read a
hundred times. Most of its pages were dogs'-eared and their
margins were filled with pencilled notes. And on the cover shone the
title in brightly gilded letters:

THE ADVENTURES OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM.

CHAPTER VIII.
BOUND FOR THE FALKLANDS.

On the 8th of September, in the evening, I had taken leave of His
Excellency the Governor-General of the Archipelago of Tristan
d'Acunha--for such is the official title bestowed upon himself by
that excellent fellow, Glass, ex-corporal of artillery in the
British Army. On the following day, before dawn, the _Halbrane_ sailed.

After we had rounded Herald Point, the few houses of Ansiedlung
disappeared behind the extremity of Falmouth Bay. A fine breeze from
the east carried us along gaily.

During the morning we left behind us in succession Elephant Bay,
Hardy Rock, West Point, Cotton Bay, and Daly's Promontory; but it
took the entire day to lose sight of the volcano of Tristan
d'Acunha, which is eight thousand feet high; its snow-clad bulk
was at last veiled by the shades of evening.

During that week our voyage proceeded under the most favourable
conditions; if these were maintained, the end of the month of
September ought to bring us within sight of the first peaks of the
Falkland Group; and so, very sensibly towards the south; the
schooner having descended from the thirty-eighth parallel to the
fifty-fifth degree of latitude.

The most daring, or, perhaps I ought to say, the most lucky of those
discoverers who had preceded the