Once the reporter had attempted to

And then he had the curiosity to examine this flaw with a strong magnifier which he unscrewed from one of the telescopes. But he had scarcely looked at it, when he uttered a cry, and the glass almost fell from his hands. Immediately running to the room in which Cyrus Harding then was, he extended the negative and magnifier towards the engineer, pointing out the little spot. Harding examined it; then seizing his telescope he rushed to the window. The telescope, after having slowly swept the horizon, at last stopped on the looked-for spot, and Cyrus Harding, lowering it, pronounced one word only,-- "A vessel!" And in fact a vessel was in sight, off Lincoln Island! It was now two years and a half since the castaways from the balloon had been thrown on Lincoln Island, and during that period there had been no communication between them and their fellow-creatures. Once the reporter had attempted to communicate with the inhabited world by confiding to a bird a letter which contained the secret of their situation, but that was a chance on which it was impossible to reckon seriously. Ayrton, alone, under the circumstances which have been related, had come to join the little colony. Now, suddenly, on this day, the 17th of October, other men had unexpectedly appeared in sight of the island, on that deserted sea! There could be no doubt about it! A vessel was there! But would she pass on, or would she put into port? In a few hours the colonists would definitely know what to expect. Cyrus Harding and Herbert having immediately called Gideon Spilett, Pencroft, and Neb into the dining-room of Granite House, told them what had happened. Pencroft, seizing the telescope, rapidly swept the horizon, and stopping on the indicated point, that is to say, on that which had made the almost imperceptible spot on the photographic negative,-- "I'm blessed but it is really a vessel!" he exclaimed, in a voice which did not express any great amount of satisfaction. "Is she coming here?" asked Gideon Spilett.