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.