replied the count.

"Whatever it is, in another hour we shall know all about it," said Servadac.

"No, captain," interposed Lieutenant Procope; "we shall know
nothing until to-morrow."

"What! not bear down upon it at once?" asked the count in surprise.

"No, sir; I should much rather lay to and wait till daylight.
If we are really near land, I should be afraid to approach it
in the dark."

The count expressed his approval of the lieutenant's caution,
and thereupon all sail was shortened so as to keep the _Dobryna_
from making any considerable progress all through the hours of night.
Few as those hours were, they seemed to those on board as if their
end would never come. Fearful lest the faint glimmer should at
any moment cease to be visible, Hector Servadac did not quit
his post upon the deck; but the light continued unchanged.
It shone with about the same degree of luster as a star of the
second magnitude, and from the fact of its remaining stationary,
Procope became more and more convinced that it was on land and did
not belong to a passing vessel.

At sunrise every telescope was pointed with keenest interest
towards the center of attraction. The light, of course, had ceased
to be visible, but in the direction where it had been seen,
and at a distance of about ten miles, there was the distinct
outline of a solitary island of very small extent; rather, as the