"Well, Dirk Peters! Have you recognized the group?" asked the captain. "The group?" replied the half-breed, shaking his head. "No, I have only seen the tops of five or six islets. There is nothing but stone heaps there--not a single island!" As the schooner approached we easily recognized these fragments of the group, which had been almost entirely destroyed on its western side. The scattered remains formed dangerous reefs which might seriously injure the keel or the sides of the _Halbrane_, and there was no intention of risking the ship's safety among them. We accordingly cast anchor at a safe distance, and a boat was lowered for the reception of Captain Len Guy, the boatswain, Dirk Peters, Holt, two men and myself. The still, transparent water, as Peters steered us skilfully between the projecting edges of the little reefs, allowed us to see, not a bed of sand strewn with shells, but blackish heaps which were overgrown by land vegetation, tufts of plants not belonging to the marine flora that floated on the surface of the sea. Presently we landed on one of the larger islets which rose to about thirty feet above the sea. "Do the tides rise sometimes to that height?" I inquired of the captain. [Illustration: The half-breed in the crow's-nest.] "Never," he replied, "and perhaps we shall discover some remains of the vegetable kingdom, of habitations, or of an encampment." "The best thing we can do," said the boatswain, "is to follow Dirk Peters, who has already distanced us. The half-breed's lynx eyes will see what we can't." Peters had indeed scaled the eminence in a moment, and we presently joined him on the top. The islet was strewn with remains (probably of those domestic animals mentioned in Arthur Pym's journal), but these bones differed from the bones on Tsalal Island by the fact that the heaps dated from a few months only. This then agreed with the recent period at which we placed the earthquake. Besides, plants and tufts of flowers were growing here and there. "And these are this year's," I cried, "no southern winter has passed over them." These facts having been ascertained, no doubt could remain respecting the date of the cataclysm after the departure of Patterson. The destruction of the population of Tsalal whose bones lay about the village was not attributable to that catastrophe. William Guy and the five sailors of the _Jane_ had been able to fly in time, since no bones that could be theirs had been found on the island.