The ships will soon show up, in the east or in the west, for the fishing season is near." "May Heaven hear you, Atkins, and guide the _Halbrane_ safely into port." "Captain Len Guy?
Ah, he's a good sailor, although he's English--there are good people everywhere--and he takes in his supplies at the Green Cormorant." "You think the _Halbrane_--" "Will be signalled before a week, Mr.Jeorling, or, if not, it will be because there is no longer a Captain Len Guy; and if there is no longer a Captain Len Guy, it is because the _Halbrane_ has sunk in full sail between the Kerguelens and the Cape of Good Hope." Thereupon Mr.Atkins walked away, with a scornful gesture, indicating that such an eventuality was out of all probability.
My intention was to take my passage on board the _Halbrane_ so soon as she should come to her moorings in Christmas Harbour.

After a rest of six or seven days, she would set sail again for Tristan d'Acunha, where she was to discharge her cargo of tin and copper.
I meant to stay in the island for a few weeks of the fine season, and from thence set out for Connecticut.

Nevertheless, I did not fail to take into due account the share that belongs to chance in human affairs, for it is wise, as Edgar Poe has said, always "to reckon with the unforeseen, the unexpected, the inconceivable, which have a very large share (in those affairs), and chance ought always to be a matter of strict calculation." Each day I walked about the port and its neighbourhood.

The sun was growing strong.

The rocks were emerging by degrees from their winter clothing of snow; moss of a wine-like colour was springing up on the basalt cliffs, strips of seaweed fifty yards long were floating on the sea, and on the plain the lyella, which is of Andean origin, was pushing up its little points, and the only leguminous plant of the region, that gigantic cabbage already mentioned, valuable for its anti-scorbutic properties, was making its appearance.
I had not come across a single land mammal--sea mammals swarm in these waters--not even of the batrachian or reptilian kinds.