o the weariness and the peril of our voyage. I also
except West, who was ever ready to face every eventuality, like a
man who is always on the defensive. As for the two brothers Guy,
their happiness in being restored to each other made them frequently
oblivious of the anxieties and risks of the future.

Of Hurliguerly I cannot speak too highly. He proved himself a
thoroughly good fellow, and it raised our drooping spirits to hear
him repeat in his jolly voice,--

"We shall get to port all right, my friends, be sure of that. And,
if you only reckon things up, you will see that we have had more
good luck than bad. Oh, yes, I know, there was the loss of our
schooner! Poor _Halbrane_, carried up into the air like a balloon,
then flung into the deep llke an avalanche! But, on the other hand,
there was the iceberg which brought us to the coast, and the Tsalal
boat which brought us and Captain William Guy and his three
companions together. And don't forget the current and the breeze
that have pushed us on up to now, and will keep pushing us on, I'm
sure of that. With so many trumps in our hand we cannot possibly
lose the game. The only thing to be regretted is that we shall have
to get ashore again in Australia or New Zealand, instead of casting
anchor at the Kerguelens, near the quay of Christmas Harbour, in
front of the Greea Cormorant."

For a week we pursued our course without deviation to east or west,
and it was not until the 21st of March that the Paracutis lost
sight of Halbrane Land, being carried towards the north by the
current, while the coast-line of the continent, for such we are
convinced it is, trended in a round curve to the north-east.

Although the waters of this portion of sea were still open, they
carried a flotilla of icebergs or ice-fields. Hence arose serious
difficulties and also dangers to navigation in the midst of the
gloomy mists, when we had to manoeuvre between these moving masses,
either to find passage or to prevent our little craft from being
crushed like grain between the millstones.

Besides, Captain Len Guy could no longer ascertain his position
either in latitude or longitude. The sun being absent, calculations
by the position of the stars was too complicated, it was impossible
to take altitudcs, and the _Paracuta_ abandoned herself to the action
of the current, which invariably bore us northward, as the compass
indicated. By keeping the reckoning of its medium speed, however, we
co