nged, they
lost the hope of ever being rescued. At first, with the return of
the fine season, when the sea was once more open, they had thought
it possible that a ship would be sent in search of the _Jane_. But
after four or five years they relinquished all hope.

There is no need for dwelling on this period, which extends from the
year 1828 to the year 1839. The winters were hard. The summer did
indeed extend its beneficent influence to the islands of the Tsalal
group, but the cold season, with its attendant snows, rains, and
tempests, spared them none of its severity.

During seven months Captain William Guy had not lost one of those
who had come with him safe and sound out of the trap set for them at
Klock-Klock, and this was due, no doubt, to their robust
constitutions, remarkable power of endurance, and great strength of
character. Alas! misfortune was making ready to fall on them.

The month of May had come--it corresponds in those regions to the
month of November in northern lands-and the ice-packs which the
current carried towards the north were beginning to drift past
Tsalal. One day, one of the seven men failed to return to the
cavern. They called, they waited, they searched for him. All was in
vain. He did not reappear; no doubt he had been drowned. He was
never more seen by his fellow-exiles.

This man was Patterson, the faithful companion of William Guy.

Now, what William Guy did not know, but we told him, was that
Patterson--under what circumstances none would ever learn--had
been carried away on the surface of an iceblock, where he died of
hunger. And on that ice-block, which had travelled so far as Prince
Edward Island, the boatswain had discovered the corpse of the
unfortunate man almost decomposed by the action of the warmer waters.

When Captain Len Guy told his brother of the finding of the body of
Patterson, and how it was owing to the notes in his pocket-book that
the _Halbrane_ had been enabled to proceed towards the antarctic seas,
William Guy hid his face in his hands and wept.

Other misfortunes followed upon this one.

Five months after the disappearance of Patterson, in the middle of
October, Tsalal Island was laid waste from coast to coast by an
earthquake, which destroyed the southwestern group almost entirely.
William Guy and his companions must soon have perished on the barren
land, which no longer could give them food, had not the means of
leaving its coast, now merely an expa