.

.

I am going to die." So then for nearly three months Patterson's body had lain on the surface of this ice-waif which we had met on our way from the Kerguelens to Tristan d'Acunha! Ah! why had we not saved the mate of the _Jane_! I had to yield to evidence.

Captain Len Guy, who knew Patterson, had recognized him in this frozen corpse! It was indeed he who accompanied the captain of the _Jane_ when he had interred that bottle, containing the letter which I had refused to believe authentic, at the Kerguelens.

Yes! for eleven years, the survivors of the English schooner had been cast away there without any hope of succour.
Len Guy turned to me and said, "Do you believe--_now_ ?" "I believe," said I, falteringly; "but Captain William Guy of the _Jane_, and Captain Len Guy of the _Halbrane_--" "Are brothers!" he cried in a loud voice, which was heard by all the crew.
Then we turned our eyes once more to the place where the lump of ice had been floating; but the double influence of the solar rays and the waters in this latitude had produced its effect, no trace of the dead man's last refuge remained on the surface of the sea..