southerly direction. It remained, however, as remarkable as ever
how completely throughout the voyage the sea continued to be deserted;
all expectations of hailing a vessel bearing news from Europe were
entirely falsified, so that more and more each member of the crew began
to be conscious of his isolation, and to believe that the schooner,
like a second Noah's ark, carried the sole survivors of a calamity
that had overwhelmed the earth.

On the 9th of February the _Dobryna_ passed over the site of the city of Dido,
the ancient Byrsa--a Carthage, however, which was now more completely
destroyed than ever Punic Carthage had been destroyed by Scipio Afri-canus
or Roman Carthage by Hassan the Saracen.

In the evening, as the sun was sinking below the eastern horizon,
Captain Servadac was lounging moodily against the taffrail.
From the heaven above, where stars kept peeping fitfully from behind
the moving clouds, his eye wandered mechanically to the waters below,
where the long waves were rising and falling with the evening breeze.

All at once, his attention was arrested by a luminous speck straight ahead
on the southern horizon. At first, imagining that he was the victim
of some spectral illusion, he observed it with silent attention;
but when, after some minutes, he became convinced that what he saw
was actually a distant light, he appealed to one of the sailors,
by whom his impression was fully corroborated. The intelligence
was immediately imparted to Count Timascheff and the lieutenant.

"Is it land, do you suppose?" inquired Servadac, eagerly.

"I should be more inclined to think it is a light on board some ship,"