other, my poor brother!"

On a little reflection, however, my mind refused to admit certain
things. How was this catastrophe to be reconciled with Patterson's
memoranda? The entries in his note-book stated explicitly that the
mate of the _Jane_ had left his companions on Tsalal Island seven
months previously. They could not then have perished in this
earthquake, for the state of the bones proved that it had taken
place several years earlier, and must have occurred after the
departure of Arthur Pym and Dirk Peters, since no mention of it was
made in the narrative of the former.

These facts were, then, irreconcilable. If the earthquake was of
recent date, the presence of those time-bleached skeletons could not
be attributed to its action. In any case, the survivors of the _Jane_
were not among them. But then, where were they?

The valley of Klock-Klock extended no farther; we had to retrace our
steps in order to regain the coast. We had hardly gone half a mile
on the cliff's edge when Hunt again stopped, on perceiving some
fragments of bones which were turning to dust, and did not seem to
be those of a human being.

Were these the remains of one of the strange animals described by
Arthur Pym, of which we had not hitherto seen any specimens?

Hunt suddenly uttered a cry, or rather a sort of savage growl, and
held out his enormous hand, holding a metal collar. Yes I a brass
collar, a collar eaten by rust, but bearing letters which might
still be deciphered. These letters formed the three following
words:--

"_Tiger_--Arthur Pym."

Tiger!--the name of the dog which had saved Arthur Pym's life in
the hold of the _Grampus_, and, during the revolt of the crew, had
sprung at the throat of Jones, the sailor, who was immediately
"finished" by Dirk Peters.

So, then, that faithful animal had not perished in the shipwreck of
the _Grampus_. He had been taken on board the _Jane_ at the same time as
Arthur Pym and the half-breed. And yet the narrative did not allude
to this, and after the meeting with the schooner there was no longer
any mention of the dog. All these contradictions occurred to me. I
could not reconcile the facts. Nevertheless, there could be no doubt
that Tiger had been saved from the shipwreck like Arthur Pym, had
escaped the landslip of the Klock-Klock hill, and had come to his
death at last in the catastrophe which had destroyed a portion of
the population of Tsalal.

But, again, William Guy and his fi