ters, ought he to be
believed when he repeated in a tone of mingled command and
entreaty,--

"Pym is not dead. Pym is there. Poor Pym must not be forsaken!"

When I had made an end of questioning Hunt, Captain Len Guy came out
of his meditative mood, profoundly troubled, and gave the word,
"All hands forward!"

When the men were assembled around him, he said,--

"Listen to me, Hunt, and seriously consider the gravity of the
questions I am about to put to you."

Hunt held his head up, and ran his eyes over the crew of the
_Halbrane_.

"You assert, Hunt, that all you have told us concerning Arthur Pym
is true?"

"Yes."

"You knew Dirk Peters?"

"Yes."

"You lived some years with him in Illinois?"

"Nine years."

"And he often related these things to you?"

"Yes."

"And, for your own part, you have no doubt that he told you the
exact truth?"

"None."

"Well, then, did it never occur to him that some of the crew of
the _Jane_ might have remained on Tsalal Island?"

"No."

"He believed that William Guy and his companions must all have
perished in the landslip of the hill of Klock-Klock?"

"Yes, and from what he often repeated to me, Pym believed it
also."

"Where did you see Dirk Peters for the last time?"

"At Vandalia."

"How long ago?"

"Over two years."

"And which of you two was the first to leave Vandalia?"

I thought I detected a slight hesitation in Hunt before he
answered,--

"We left the place together."

"You, to go to?"

"The Falklands."

"And he--"

"He?" repeated Hunt.

And then his wandering gaze fixed itself on Martin Holt, our
sailing-master, whose life he had saved at the risk of his own
during the tempest.

"Well!" resumed the captain, "do you not understand what I am
asking you?"

"Yes."

"Then answer me. When Dirk Peters left Illinois, did he finally
give up America?"

"Yes."

"To go whither? Speak!"

"To the Falklands."

"And where is he now?"

"He stands before you."

Dirk Peters! Hunt was the half-breed Dirk Peters, the devoted
companion of Arthur Pym, he whom Captain Guy had so long sought for
in the United States, and whose presence was probably to furnish us
with a fresh reason for pursuing our daring campaign.

I shall not be at all surprised if my readers have already
recognized Dirk Peters in Hunt; indeed, I shall be astonished if
they have failed to do so. The extraordinary thing is that Captain
Len Guy and myself, who had read