We could now see it plainly, and discern the cause also.

The fire came from two points, at some distance apart--two peaks rising above the horizon, from which there burst forth flames and smoke with incessant explosions.

All was now manifest.

It was no burning ship, no blazing forest, no land inhabited by man: those blazing peaks were two volcanoes in a state of active eruption, and at that sight I knew the worst.
"I know where we are now," I said, despairingly.
"Where ?" asked Agnew.
"That," said I, "is the antarctic continent." "The antarctic fiddlestick," said he, contemptuously.

"It is far more likely to be some volcanic island in the South Sea.