He still lived? I was
on the point of letting myself be carried away by the statements of
the captain of the _Halbrane_! Yes, another moment, and, in my turn, I
should have made a fool of myself. This poor mad fellow imagined
that he had gone to Illinois and seen people at Vandalia who had
known Dirk Peters, and that the latter had disappeared. No wonder,
since he had never existed, save in the brain of the novelist!

Nevertheless I did not want to vex Len Guy, and perhaps drive him
still more mad. Accordingly I appeared entirely convinced that he
was speaking words of sober seriousness, even when he added,--

"You are aware that in the narrative mention is made by the
captain of the schooner on which Arthur Pym had embarked, of a
bottle containing a sealed letter, which was deposited at the foot
of one of the Kerguelen peaks?"

"Yes, I recall the incident."

"Well, then, in one of my latest voyages I sought for the place
where that bottle ought to be. I found it and the letter also. That
letter stated that the captain and Arthur Pym intended to make every
effort to reach the uttermost limits of the Antarctic Sea!"
"You found that bottle?"

"Yes?"

"And the letter?"

"Yes!"

I looked at Captain Len Guy. Like certain monomaniacs he had come to
believe in his own inventions. I was on the point of saying to him,
"Show me that letter," but I thought better of it. Was he not
capable of having written the letter himself? And then I answered,--

"It is much to be regretted, captain, that you were unable to come
across Dirk Peters at Vandalia! He would at least have informed you
under what conditions he and Arthur Pym returned from so far.
Recollect, now, in the last chapter but one they are both there.
Their boat is in front of the thick curtain of white mist; it dashes
into the gulf of the cataract just at the moment when a veiled human
form rises. Then there is nothing more; nothing but two blank
lines--"

"Decidedly, sir, it is much to be regretted that I could not lay
my hand on Dirk Peters! It would have been interesting to learn what
was the outcome of these adventures. But, to my mind, it would have
been still more interesting to have ascertained the fate of the
others."

"The others?" I exclaimed almost involuntarily. "Of whom do
you speak?"

"Of the captain and crew of the English schooner which picked up
Arthur Pym and Dirk Peters after the frightful shipwreck of the
__Grampus__, and brought them