LITMIR.BIZ

      However, the mystery which enveloped its strange destruction would doubtless never have been cleared away if, on the 30th of November, Neb, strolling on the beach, had not found a piece of a thick iron cylinder, bearing traces of explosion. The edges of this cylinder were twisted and broken, as if they had been subjected to the action of some explosive substance.

      Neb brought this piece of metal to his master, who was then occupied with his companions in the workshop of the Chimneys.

      Cyrus Harding examined the cylinder attentively, then, turning to Pencroft—

      “You persist, my friend,” said he, “in maintaining that the Speedy was not lost in consequence of a collision?”

      “Yes, captain,” answered the sailor. “You know as well as I do that there are no rocks in the channel.”

      “But suppose she had run against this piece of iron?” said the engineer, showing the broken cylinder.

      “What, that bit of pipe!” exclaimed Pencroft in a tone of perfect incredulity.

      “My friends,” resumed Harding, “you remember that before she foundered the brig rose on the summit of a regular water-spout?”

      “Yes, captain,” replied Herbert.

      “Well, would you like to know what occasioned that water-spout? It was this,” said the engineer, holding up the broken tube.

      “That?” returned Pencroft.

      “Yes! This cylinder is all that remains of a torpedo!”

      “A torpedo!” exclaimed the engineer’s companions.

      “And who put the torpedo there?” demanded Pencroft, who did not like to yield.

      “All that I can tell you is, that it was not I,” answered Cyrus Harding; “but it was there, and you have been able to judge of its incomparable power!”