As we were
making our way, cautiously and toilsomely, over the pulverised embers,
one of my people sank into the earth breast-high. He turned pale, and
'Haul me out smart, shipmates,' says he, 'for my feet are among bones.'
We soon got him on his legs again, and then we dug up the spot, and we
found that the man was right, and that his feet had been among bones.
More than that, they were human bones; though whether the remains of one
man, or of two or three men, what with calcination and ashes, and what
with a poor practical knowledge of anatomy, I can't undertake to say. We
examined the whole island and made out nothing else, save and except
that, from its opposite side, I sighted a considerable tract of land,
which land I was able to identify, and according to the bearings of which
(not to trouble you with my log) I took a fresh departure. When I got
aboard again I opened the bottle, which was oilskin-covered as you see,
and glass-stoppered as you see. Inside of it," pursued the captain,
suiting his action to his words, "I found this little crumpled, folded
paper, just as you see.
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