The Great Eyrie!

But since it had been impossible for me to penetrate here, would it
not be equally impossible for me to get out again, except upon the
"Terror?" Ah, if the mists would but lift! Perhaps I should recognize
the place. What was as yet a mere hypothesis, would become a starting
point to act upon.

However, since I had freedom to move about, since neither the captain
nor his men paid any heed to me, I resolved to explore the hollow.
The three of them were all in the grotto toward the north end of the
oval. Therefore I would commence my inspection at the southern end.

Reaching the rocky wall, I skirted along its base and found it broken
by many crevices; above, arose more solid rocks of that feldspar of
which the chain of the Alleghanies largely consists. To what height
the rock wall rose, or what was the character of its summit, was
still impossible to see. I must wait until the sun had scattered the
mists.

In the meantime, I continued to follow along the base of the cliff.
None of its cavities seemed to extend inward to any distance. Several
of them contained debris from the hand of man, bits of broken wood,
heaps of dried grasses. On the ground were still to be seen the
footprints that the captain and his men must have left, perhaps
months before, upon the sand.

My jailers, being doubtless very busy in their cabin, did not show
themselves until they had arranged and packed several large bundles.
Did they purpose to carry those on board the "Terror?" And were they
packing up with the intention of permanently leaving their retreat?

In half an hour my explorations were completed and I returned toward
the center. Here and there were heaped up piles of ashes, bleached by
weather. There were fragments of burned planks and beams; posts to
which clung rusted iron-work; armatures of metal twisted by fire; all
the remnants of some intricate mechanism destroyed by the flames.

Clearly at some period not very remote the hollow had been the scene
of a conflagration, accidental or intentional. Naturally I connected
this with the phenomena observed at the Great Eyrie, the flames which
rose above the crest, the noises which had so frightened the people
of Pleasant Garden and Morganton. But of what mechanisms were these
the fragments, and what reason had our captain for destroying them?

At this moment I felt a breath of air; a breeze came from the east.
The sky swiftly cleared. The hollow was filled with l