ognise her
without difficulty, since he sailed on board her for some time."

"And if he recognises her," added Pencroft, "it will agitate him
exceedingly!"

"Yes," answered Cyrus Harding; "but now Ayrton is worthy to return on
board the _Duncan_, and pray Heaven that it is indeed Lord Glenarvan's
yacht, for I should be suspicious of any other vessel. These are
ill-famed seas, and I have always feared a visit from Malay pirates to
our island."

"We could defend it," cried Herbert.

"No doubt, my boy," answered the engineer smiling, "but it would be
better not to have to defend it."

"A useless observation," said Spilett. "Lincoln Island is unknown to
navigators, since it is not marked even on the most recent maps. Do you
not think, Cyrus, that that is a sufficient motive for a ship, finding
herself unexpectedly in sight of new land, to try and visit rather than
avoid it?"

"Certainly," replied Pencroft.

"I think so too," added the engineer. "It may even be said that it is
the duty of a captain to come and survey any land or island not yet
known, and Lincoln Island is in this position."

"Well," said Pencroft, "suppose this vessel comes and anchors there a
few cables-lengths from our island, what shall we do?" This sudden
question remained at first without any reply. But Cyrus Harding, after
some moments' thought, replied in the calm tone which was usual to him--

"What we shall do, my friends? What we ought to do is this:--we will
communicate with the ship, we will take our passage on board her, and we
will leave our island, after having taken possession of it in the name
of the United States. Then we will return with any who may wish to
follow us to colonise it definitely, and endow the American Republic
with a useful station in this part of the Pacific Ocean!"

"Hurrah!" exclaimed Pencroft, "and that will be no small present which
we shall make to our country! The colonisation is already almost
finished; names are given to every part of the island; there is a
natural port, fresh water, roads, a telegraph, a dockyard, and
manufactories; and there will be nothing to be done but to inscribe
Lincoln Island on the maps!"

"But if any one seizes it in our absence?" observed Gideon Spilett.

"Hang it!" cried the sailor. "I would rather remain all alone to guard
it: and trust to Pencroft, they shouldn't steal it from him, like a
watch from the pocket of a swell!"

For an hour it was impossible to sa