ton that he would return to take him from Tabor Island when he considered that his crimes were expiated, and I believe that he will return."
"Yes," said the reporter, "and 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," 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 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 anyone was likely to come some day to fetch him; when we did know it, the season was too advanced to allow us to return 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," observed the reporter, "that at any rate we
