"I wish to ask you, Mr. Jeorling, whether you think everything in Arthur Pym's journal, which has been published by Edgar Poe, is exactly true?" "I think there is some need for doubt," I answered "the singular character of the hero of those adventures being taken into consideration--at least concerning the phenomena of the island of Tsalal. And we know that Arthur Pym was mistaken in asserting that Captain William Guy and several of his companions perished in the landslip of the hill at Klock-Klock." "Ah! but he does not assert this, Mr. Jeorling! He says only that, when he and Dirk Peters had reached the opening through which they could discern the surrounding country, the seat of the artificial earthquake was revealed to them. Now, as the whole face of the hill was rushing into the ravine, the fate of my brother and twenty-nine of his men could not be doubtful to his mind. He was, most naturally, led to believe that Dirk Peters and himself were the only white men remaining alive on the island. He said nothing but this--nothing more. These were only suppositions--very reasonable, are they not?" "I admit that, fully, captain." "But now, thanks to Patterson's note-book, we are certain that my brother and five of his companions escaped from the landslip contrived by the natives." "That is quite clear, captain. But, as to what became of the survivors of the _Jane_, whether they were taken by the natives of Tsalal and kept in captivity, or remained free, Patterson's note-book says nothing, nor does it relate under what circumstances he himself was carried far away from them." "All that we shall learn, Mr. Jeorling. Yes, we shall know all. The main point is that we are quite sure my brother and five of his sailors were living less than four months ago on some part of Tsalal Island. There is now no question of a romance signed ‘Edgar Poe,' but of a veracious narrative signed ‘Patterson.'" "Captain," said I, "will you let me be one of your company until the end of the campaign of the _Halbrane_ in the Antarctic seas?" Captain Len Guy looked at me with a glance as penetrating as a keen blade. Otherwise he did not appear surprised by the proposal I had made; perhaps he had been expecting it--and he uttered only the single word: "Willingly." CHAPTER IX. FITTING OUT THE _HALBRANE_.