Chapter 41 - Page 2

Pencroft.

"Nonsense!" returned the reporter; "do you think that if Lord Glenarvan's
yacht had appeared at Tabor Island, while he was still living there, Ayrton
would have refused to depart?"

"You forget, my friends," then said Cyrus Harding, "that Ayrton was not
in possession of his reason during the last years of his stay there. But
that is not the question. The point is to know if we may count among our
chances of being rescued, the return of the Scotch vessel. Now, Lord
Glenarvan promised Ayrton that he would return to take him off from Tabor
Island when he considered that his crimes were expiated, and I believe that
he will return."

"Yes," said the reporter, "and I will add that he will return soon, for
it is twelve years since Ayrton was abandoned."

"Well!" answered Pencroft, "I agree with you that the nobleman will
return, and soon too. But where will he touch? At Tabor Island, and not at
Lincoln Island."

"That is the more certain," replied Herbert, "as Lincoln Island is not
even marked on the map."

"Therefore, my friends," said the engineer, "we ought to take the
necessary precautions for making our presence and that of Ayrton on Lincoln
Island known at Tabor Island."

"Certainly," answered the reporter, "and nothing is easier than to place
in the hut, which was Captain Grant's and Ayrton's dwelling, a notice which
Lord Glenarvan and his crew cannot help finding, giving the position of our
island."

"It is a pity," remarked the sailor, "that we forgot to take that
precaution on our first visit to Tabor Island."

"And why should we have done it?" asked Herbert. "At that time we did not
know Ayrton's history; we did not know that any one was likely to come some
day to fetch him, and when we did know his history, the season was too
advanced to allow us to return then to Tabor Island."

"Yes," replied Harding, "it was too late, and we must put off the voyage
until next spring."

"But suppose the Scotch yacht comes before that," said Pencroft.

"That is not probable," replied the engineer, "for Lord Glenarvan would
not choose the winter season to venture into these seas. Either he has
already returned to Tabor Island, since Ayrton has been with us, that is to
say, during the last five months and has left again; or he will not come
till later, and it will be time enough in the first fine October days to go
to Tabor Island, and leave a notice there."

"We must allow," said Neb, "that it will be very unfortunate if the
'Duncan' has returned to these parts only a few months ago!"

"I hope that it is not so," replied Cyrus Harding, "and that Heaven has
not deprived us of the best chance which remains to us."

"I think,"