Page:An Antarctic Mystery.pdf/190

172 to Tsalal Island, where he landed half dead from hunger."

"To Tsalal Island!" exclaimed Captain Len Guy. "And how long was it since they had left it?"

"Three weeks—yes, three weeks at the farthest, so Dirk Peters told me."

"Then he must have found all that remained of the crew of the Jane—my brother William and those who had survived with him?"

"No," replied Hunt; "and Dirk Peters always believed that they had perished—yes, to the very last man. There was no one upon the island."

"No one?"

"Not a living soul."

"But the population?"

"No one! No one, I tell you. The island was a desert—yes, a desert!"

This statement contradicted certain facts of which we were absolutely certain. After all, though, it was possible that when Dirk Peters returned to Tsalal Island, the population, seized by who can tell what terror, had already taken refuge upon the south-western group, and that William Guy and his companions were still hidden in the gorges of Klock-Klock. That would explain why the half-breed had not come across them, and also why the survivors of the Jane had had nothing to fear during the eleven years of their sojourn in the island. On the other hand, since Patterson had left them there seven months previously, if we did not find them, that must have been because they had been obliged to leave Tsalal, the place being rendered uninhabitable by the earthquake.

"So that," resumed Captain Len Guy, "on the return