e," he resumed, "I have so many things
to occupy me and make me anxious. A plan of campaign to organize, in
which nothing must be unforeseen or unprovided for. I beg you not to
be displeased with me--"

"I am not, I assure you."

"That is all right, Mr. Jeorling; and now that I know you, that I
am able to appreciate you, I congratulate myself upon having you for
a passenger until our arrival at the Falklands."

"I am very grateful, captain, for what you have done for me, and I
feel encouraged to--"

The moment seemed propitious to my making my proposal, when Captain
Len Guy interrupted me.

"Well, Mr. Jeorling," he asked, "are you now convinced of the
reality of the voyage of the _Jane_, or do you still regard Edgar
Poe's book as a work of pure imagination?"

"I do not so regard it, captain."

"You no longer doubt that Arthur Pym and Dirk Peters have really
existed, or that my brother William Guy and five of his companions
are living?"

"I should be the most incredulous of men, captain, to doubt either
fact, and my earnest desire is that the favour of Heaven may attend
you and secure the safety of the shipwrecked mariners of the _Jane_."

"I will do all in my power, Mr. Jeorling, and by the blessing of
God I shall succeed."

"I hope so, captain. Indeed, I am certain it will be so, and if
you consent--"

"Is it not the case that you talked of this matter with one Glass,
an English ex-corporal, who sets up to be Governor of Tristan
d'Acunha?" inquired the captain, without allowing me to finish
my sentence.

"That is so," I replied, "and what I learned from Glass has
contributed not a little to change my doubts into certainty."

"Ah I he has satisfied you?"

"Yes. He perfectly remembers to have seen the _Jane_, eleven years
ago, when she had put in at Tristan d'Acunha."

"The _Jane_--and my brother?"

"He told me that he had personal dealings with Captain William
Guy."

"And he traded with the _Jane_?"

"Yes, as he has just been trading with the _Halbrane_."

"She was moored in this bay?"

"In the same place as your schooner."

"And--Arthur Pym--Dirk Peters?"

"He was with them frequently."

"Did he ask what had become of them?"

"Oh yes, and I informed him of the death of Arthur Pym, whom he
regarded as a foolhardy adventurer, capable of any daring folly."

"Say a madman, and a dangerous madman, Mr. Jeorling. Was it not he
who led my unfortunate brother into that fatal enterprise?"

"