_Halbrane_, under the command of
Captain Len Guy, in the Antarctic seas, had not gone beyond--Kemp,
the sixty-sixth parallel; Ballerry, the sixty-seventh; Biscoe, the
sixty-eighth; Bellinghausen and Morrell, the seventieth; Cook, the
seventy-first; Weddell, the seventy-fourth. And it was beyond the
eighty-third, nearly five hundred and fifty miles farther, that we
must go to the succour of the survivors of the _Jane_!

I confess that for a practical man of unimaginative temperament, I
felt strangely excited; a nervous restlessness had taken possession
of me. I was haunted by the figures of Arthur Pym and his
companions, lost in Antarctic ice-deserts. I began to feel a desire
to take part in the proposed undertaking of Captain Len Guy. I
thought about it incessantly. As a fact there was nothing to recall
me to America. It is true that whether I should get the consent of
the commander of the _Halbrane_ remained to be seen; but, after all,
why should he refuse to keep me as a passenger? Would it not be a
very "human" satisfaction to him to give me material proof that
he was in the right, by taking me to the very scene of a catastrophe
that I had regarded as fictitious, showing me the remains of the
_Jane_ at Tsalal, and landing me on that selfsame island which I had
declared to be a myth?

Nevertheless, I resolved to wait, before I came to any definite
determination, until an opportunity of speaking to the captain
should arise.

After an interval of unfavourable weather, during which the _Halbrane_
made but slow progress, on the 4th of October, in the morning, the
aspect of the sky and the sea underwent a marked change. The wind
became calm, the waves abated, and the next day the breeze veered to
the north-west. This was very favourable to us, and in ten days,
with a continuance of such fortunate conditions, we might hope to
reach the Falklands.

It was on the 11th that the opportunity of an explanation with
Captain Len Guy was presented to me, and by himself, for he came out
of his cabin, advanced to the side of the ship where I was seated,
and took his place at my side.

Evidently he wished to talk to me, and of what, if not the subject
which entirely absorbed him? He began by saying:

"I have not yet had the pleasure of a chat with you, Mr. Jeorling,
since our departure from Tristan d'Acunha!"

"To my regret, captain," I replied, but with reserve, for I
wanted him to make the running.

"I beg you to excuse m