There was not a moment to lose. Two or three detonations, and the thud of balls on the rocks apprised them that the Speedy was near at hand. To jump into the elevator, to hoist themselves to the door of Granite House, where Top and Jup had been shut up since the day before, and to rush into the great hall, was the work of a moment. Through the leaves they saw the Speedy, environed with smoke, moving up the channel. They had not left a moment too soon, for balls were crashing everywhere through the hiding places they had quitted. The rocks were splintered to pieces. Still they hoped that Granite House would escape notice behind its leafy covering, when suddenly a ball passed through the doorway and penetrated into the corridor. “The devil! we are discovered!” cried Pencroff. But perhaps the colonists had not been seen, and Harvey had only suspected that something lay behind the leafy screen of the rock. And soon another ball, tearing apart the foliage, exposed the opening in the granite. The situation of the colonists was now desperate. They could make no answer to the fire, under which the rock was crashing around them. Nothing remained but to take refuge in the upper corridor of Granite House, giving up their abode to devastation, when a hollow sound was heard, followed by dreadful shrieks! Smith and his comrades rushed to the window. The brig, lifted on the summit of a sort of waterspout, had just split in half; and in less than ten seconds she went to the bottom with her wicked crew!! CHAPTER XLVI. THE COLONISTS ON THE BEACH—AYRTON AND PENCROFF AS SALVORS—TALK AT BREAKFAST—PENCROFF’S REASONING—EXPLORATION OF THE BRIG’S HULL IN DETAIL—THE MAGAZINE UNINJURED—NEW RICHES—A DISCOVERY—A PIECE OF A BROKEN CYLINDER. “They have blown up!” cried Herbert. “Yes, blown up as if Ayrton had fired the magazine,” answered Pencroff, jumping into the elevator with Neb and the boy, “But what has happened?” said Spilett, still stupefied at the unexpected issue. “Ah, this time we shall find out—” said the engineer, “What shall we find out?” “All in time; the chief thing is that the pirates have been disposed of.” And they rejoined the rest of the party on beach. Not a sign of the brig could be seen, not even the masts. After having been upheaved by the water-spout, it had fallen back upon its side, and had sunk in this position, doubtless owing to some enormous leak.’ As the channel here was only twenty feet deep, the masts of the brig would certainly reappear at low tide. Some waifs were floating on the surface of the sea. There was a whole float, made up of masts and spare yards, chicken coops with the fowls still living, casks and barrels, which little by little rose to the surface, having escaped by the traps; but no debris was adrift, no flooring of the deck, no plankage of the hull; and the sudden sinking of the Speedy seemed still more inexplicable.